Rajat Suri

Rajat Suri
Rajat Suri, E la Carte’s Founder and CEO
Born	June 1985 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Residence	Silicon Valley, CA
Alma mater	Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Waterloo
Occupation	CEO of E la Carte
Known for	E la Carte, Zimride

Rajat Suri is a technology entrepreneur who is best recognized as being the founder and CEO of E la Carte,^[1] makers of a guest-facing restaurant tablet called Presto.^[2] The Presto Tablet allows guests to order food, play games and pay from their table.^[3]

Career

Rajat Suri, a Toronto native, graduated from the University of Waterloo^[4] with degrees in economics and chemical engineering. Suri then went on to pursue his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Suri got the idea to start E la Carte while he and his friends struggled to split the bill at a restaurant.^[5] He discovered that the payment and ordering process could be simplified while giving guests an opportunity to control their dining experience. Suri dropped out of MIT to become a waiter at a local restaurant called The Asgard Irish Pub and Restaurant ^[6] to learn about the restaurant industry. E la Carte was founded in 2008 and is currently located in the Silicon Valley. The company is backed by Y-Combinator and raised initial funding from angel investors including SV Angel, Dave McClure, Joshua Schachter, Roy Rodenstein, and Skip Sack. In 2011, the company raised $4 million from Lightbank.^[7] E la Carte received a round of Series B funding of $13.5 million from Intel Capital in 2013.^[8] Applebee’s, one of the nation’s largest casual dining chain restaurants,^[9] announced that it will deploy 100,000 of E la Carte’s Presto tablets in more than 1,800 locations throughout the United States in 2014.^[10]

Suri also co-founded Zimride in 2007 as a Facebook-based ride sharing application.^[11] In 2013, Zimride changed its name to Lyft.^[12] By 2013, Lyft has received approximately $83 million in venture capital funding including investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Floodgate, Founders Fund, K9 Ventures, and Mayfield Fund. In 2014, Lyft announced that was looking to raise $150 million in Series D funding.^[13] Lyft now operates in more than 20 U.S. cities.^[14]

References

1. "Start-Ups Mixing Food and Technology Vie for an Edge". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
2. "Lightbank Leads $4 Million Investment in Restaurant Tableside Tablet Creator E la Carte". Digital Signage Connection. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
3. "Average Is Over". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
4. "Rajat Suri". MIT: The McRae Group. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
5. "Restaurant tablet startup E la Carte orders up $13.5M". Venture Beat. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
6. "Menus for the postmodern milieu". Boston.com. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
7. "E la Carte Raises $4M From Groupon Co-Founders To Bring Tablets To Restaurant Tables". TechCrunch. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
8. "E la Carte Raises $13.5 Million to Bring Tablets to More Restaurants". Mashable. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
9. "Applebee's to introduce tablets to its tables". The Famuan. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
10. "Applebee's to serve tablets at every table". USA Today. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
11. "Service makes students easy riders". University of Waterloo. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
12. "Uber Competitor Lyft Eyes $150 Million in New Funding". Entrepreneur.com. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
13. "Lyft Raises $60 Million As Ride Sharing Competition Heats Up". Forbes. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
14. "Cities". Lyft.com. Retrieved 24 March 2014.