Rajat Suri is a Canadian-American entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Presto.

Education

In 2007, Suri received a

bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ( ...

in chemical engineering and economics from the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a Public university, public research university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to uptown Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also op ...

. He was a Ph.D./M.B.A. candidate at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT) until he dropped out to pursue a career as an entrepreneur.

Career

Zimride / Lyft

Suri was a co-founder of

Zimride Zimride by Enterprise Holdings was an American carpool program that matched inter-city drivers and passengers through social networking services. It was offered to universities and businesses as a matchmaking service.

, which later became

Lyft Lyft, Inc. is an American company offering ride-hailing services, motorized scooters, and bicycle-sharing systems in the United States and Canada. Lyft sets fares, which vary using a dynamic pricing model based on local supply and demand a ...

and grew to be the second-largest

ridesharing company A ridesharing company (or ridehailing service) is a company (or service offered by a company) that, via websites and mobile apps, matches passengers with drivers of vehicles for hire that, unlike taxis, cannot legally be hailed from the street. ...

in the United States.

Presto

In 2008, while trying to split a bill with his friends, Suri was inspired to create a product that allowed restaurant customers to order and pay through a tablet. In October 2008, he founded Presto, then known by its legal name E la Carte in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. The company is a major player in the customer-facing technology market for full-service and quick-service restaurants.

Presto Technologies, Inc.

On November 10, 2021, Suri announced that Presto entered into a definitive merger agreement with Ventoux CCM Acquisition Corp. ("Ventoux") (NASDAQ: VTAQ), a

special-purpose acquisition company A special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC; ), also known as a blank check company or a blind-pool stock offering, is a shell corporation listed on a stock exchange with the purpose of acquiring (or merging with) a private company, thus taking ...

that will result i
Presto becoming a public company
Upon closing, the company will be renamed Presto Technologies, Inc. and expects to list its common stock on

Nasdaq The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

. The combined company has a pro forma equity value of approximately $1 billion.

References

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{more cats, date=January 2022