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Sparta Group is the private investment office of Gururaj 'Desh' Deshpande, and oversees the activities for the Deshpande Foundation. Sparta invests in a broad range of assets, including early-stage technology companies, hedge funds, private equity, direct investments, real assets, and public securities. A foundation with international reach, the Deshpande Foundation focuses on development, health, education and other areas. The firm focuses on sustainable, scalable social and economic impact through innovation and entrepreneurship in the United States, Canada, and India. Desh Deshpande is the founder and chairman of Sycamore Networks, and formerly of Cascade Communications. The Deshpande Foundation and a coalition of colleges and non-profit groups recently announced that a planned entrepreneurship center based at the University of Massachusetts Lowell will be called the Merrimack Valley Sandbox (see profile), and that it will be funded with $5 million from the Deshpande Foundation over five years, and an expected $10 million in supplemental funds from outside backers. The Pond-Deshpande Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship was launched at the University of New Brunswick, Canada to act as a catalyst to advance innovation and entrepreneurship in the province. 152 ventures have been launched by DDQIC.
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