Rajat Suri

Rajat Suri
Rajat Suri
Education	Thornlea Secondary School University of Waterloo Massachusetts Institute of Technology (attended)
Title	Founder and CEO, Presto

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

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.^[1]

Career

Zimride / Lyft

Suri was a co-founder of Zimride, which later became Lyft and grew to be the second-largest ridesharing company 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.^[2] 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.^[3]^[4]

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.^[5] ^[6] 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

^ "Start-Ups Mixing Food and Technology Vie for an Edge". The New York Times. December 9, 2011.
^ "Presto CEO talks high tech dining". April 9, 2019.
^ Alex M. Susskind, Mark Maynard (15 June 2019). The next frontier of restaurant management : harnessing data to improve guest service and enhance the employee experience. ISBN 978-1-5017-3652-0.
^ "Restaurants turn to technology to combat labor shortages". January 13, 2022.
^ "Restaurant-Tech Startup Presto Going Public Through $1 Billion SPAC Merger". November 10, 2021.
^ "Presto aims to give fast-food restaurants better customer insight through data". November 16, 2021.

[1] "Start-Ups Mixing Food and Technology Vie for an Edge". The New York Times. December 9, 2011.

[2] "Presto CEO talks high tech dining". April 9, 2019.

[3] Alex M. Susskind, Mark Maynard (15 June 2019). The next frontier of restaurant management : harnessing data to improve guest service and enhance the employee experience. ISBN 978-1-5017-3652-0.

[4] "Restaurants turn to technology to combat labor shortages". January 13, 2022.

[5] "Restaurant-Tech Startup Presto Going Public Through $1 Billion SPAC Merger". November 10, 2021.

[6] "Presto aims to give fast-food restaurants better customer insight through data". November 16, 2021.

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