# Ritu Narayan

> Ritu Narayan is the founder and CEO of Zūm, the Redwood City company rebuilding the United States' largest mass transit system: the yellow school bus. After 15 years as a product leader at eBay, Yahoo, Oracle and IBM, she left to fix the unreliable rides she was juggling for her own kids. Today Zūm runs electric school bus fleets for more than 4,000 schools, deployed the nation's first all-electric district fleet in Oakland with vehicle-to-grid technology, and has raised about $577 million.

- **Role:** Founder and CEO at Zūm
- **Organizations:** Zūm (Zum Services, Inc.), eBay (former), Yahoo! (former), Oracle (former), IBM (former)
- **From:** India
- **Nationality:** American (born in India)
- **Education:** Sloan Fellow / MSx, Stanford Graduate School of Business, B.E., Computer Science, Delhi Institute of Technology (now NSUT), University of Delhi
- **Known for:** Built Zūm to serve 4,000+ schools across the United States, Delivered the first 100% electric school bus fleet to a US district (Oakland Unified, 74 EV buses with V2G), Raised approximately $577M in total funding

## Career timeline

- **pre-2015** — Product leadership roles at IBM, Oracle, Yahoo!, and eBay (Group Product Manager) across 15 years in Silicon Valley
- **2015** — Founded Zūm in Redwood City after her own kids' school rides kept falling through
- **2019** — Pivoted from concierge rides for parents to running full school bus fleets after districts asked her to take over their routes
- **2022** — Raised $140M Series E at a $1.3B valuation led by GIC
- **2024** — Launched Oakland Unified School District's all-electric school bus fleet with vehicle-to-grid technology, the first of its kind in the US
- **2024** — Named to CNBC's Changemakers list and Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business
- **2026** — Named EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Bay Area finalist

## Achievements

- Built Zūm to serve 4,000+ schools across the United States
- Delivered the first 100% electric school bus fleet to a US district (Oakland Unified, 74 EV buses with V2G)
- Raised approximately $577M in total funding
- Goldman Sachs Builders + Innovators Exceptional Entrepreneur, 2023
- CNBC Changemakers: Women Transforming Business, 2024
- Chief's New Era of Leadership Award
- GSV ASU Power of Women Award, 2023
- Inc.'s Top 100 Female Entrepreneurs
- EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2026 Bay Area finalist

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Latest funding round closed - venture round, approximately $100M
- **2026-05** — Named EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Bay Area finalist

## Links

- Website: https://ridezum.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritunarayan
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ritun
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/ridezum

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/ritu-narayan
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-30