Rajat Suri is a Canadian-American entrepreneur, podcaster, and technology executive. He is the co-founder and CEO of Tribe, a group chat platform, and previously co-founded Lyft and Presto. He also co-hosts the Founders in Arms Podcast.

Education In 2007, Suri received a bachelor's in chemical engineering and economics from the University of Waterloo. He was a Ph.D./M.B.A. candidate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) until he dropped out to pursue a career as an entrepreneur.

Career

Tribe Suri is the founder and CEO of Tribe, described as a futuristic group chat platform built for communities.

Lyft Suri was a co-founder of Lyft, formerly known as Zimride, and grew to be the second-largest ridesharing company in the United States.

Founders in Arms Podcast Suri co-hosts the Founders in Arms Podcast alongside Immad Akhund, CEO of Mercury, where they explore the realms of emerging technology, science, and humanities with the foremost experts in their fields.

Notable guests include: Amjad Masad (CEO of Replit), Parag Agrawal (former CEO of Twitter, CEO of Parallel Web Systems), Guillermo Rauch (CEO of Vercel), Colin Angle (CEO of iRobot), and Severin Hacker (co-founder and CTO of Duolingo).

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. 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 that will result in 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 combined company has a pro forma equity value of approximately $1 billion.

References