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 previously brought Zimride to the University of Waterloo in 2007.[11]

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.
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