Ritu Narayan is known as the CEO and one of the founders of Zūm. Zum is the most-trusted and biggest platform for kids’ transportation. She received a Gold Stevie Award in 2018, Awards for Women in Business, hailed as the world’s premier business awards. Awards for Women in Business.
Early years and education
Ritu Narayan dreamed of becoming an astronaut when she was younger. She studied Engineering in India where 294 out of 300 students are male. After becoming the first engineer in their family, she decided to move to the US in 1999. She then entered Stanford Graduate School of Business during which she joined the Women in Management group, Entrepreneur Club, Stanford Venture Studio and High-Tech Club. By 2004, she worked at a top Silicon Valley companies for 15 years. Some of these companies are Oracle, IBM, eBay, and Yahoo!
When she became a mother of two, she realized how her mother sacrificed so much in raising them in India. She was inspired on how her mother had to quit her job as a teacher and devote taking care of her and her three other siblings. She wanted to be able to continue with her career and still be able to take care of her children.
Narayan already has ideas for what she wanted to build, an idea for business that will help parents like her to provide the best for their children while maintaining and continuing their good careers. She pictured a technology that will build an online marketplace that will provide high quality services for families with kids.
Ritu Narayan’s brother, Vivek Garg graduated Social Entrepreneurship in Stanford MSx Program in 2013. He joined and helped Narayan in 2015.
Zum Services, Inc.
With a vision of providing reliable and safe rides for children without having to sacrifice careers of the mothers, Zūm was launched in February of 2015. The care and ride service are for kids aged between 5 to 15.
Just after two years of launch, in 2017, Zūm was able to raise $5.5 million Series A funding through Sequoia Capital. Bryan Schreier, Sequoia Capita’s partner mentioned that it was the company’s authentic personal story that led them in investing to Zūm.
Zūm’s total venture funding reaches $26.8 million as Spark Capital adds up an amount of $19 million in the first quarter of 2018 in Series B Funding. By the first quarter of 2018, the company has grown by 340% and is looking forward to completing one million rides by the end of 2018.