Narayan’s leadership recognized for building a category-defining platform that is modernizing student mobility for 26 million children across America
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., April 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Ritu Narayan, Founder and CEO of Zūm, has been named a finalist for the Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2026 Bay Area Award by Ernst & Young LLP (EY US). Now in its 41st year, the program celebrates the bold leaders who disrupt markets through the world’s most groundbreaking companies, revolutionizing industries and uplifting communities.
Narayan was selected among 20 finalists by an independent panel of judges based on entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, company growth, and lasting impact in building long-term value.
“This recognition is deeply meaningful — not just to me, but to every member of the Zum team whose work makes this mission possible every single day,” said Narayan. “We set out to solve a problem that millions of families live with every day: the anxiety and uncertainty of not knowing whether their child will get to school safely and on time. What we have built is Zum CMX, the first student mobility system ever designed around people — not just buses. This honor belongs to our drivers, our operators, our district partners, and the families who trusted us to show up for their children. We are just getting started.”
About Ritu Narayan and Zum
Narayan founded Zum in 2015 after recognizing, as a working mother and technology executive, that the largest mass transit system in America — student transportation — was running on decades-old technology. Every school day, 26 million children depend on the yellow school bus to get to and from school, yet the systems behind that journey had barely changed in generations. She left a career at eBay and Oracle to build something different: a fully integrated, technology-driven platform that replaces fragmented, disconnected workflows with a single, real-time system.
Today, Zum serves more than 4,500 schools across 17 states, partnering with some of the largest school districts in the country — including Los Angeles Unified, Boston Public Schools, San Francisco Unified, Omaha Public Schools, and Kansas City Public Schools. Under Narayan’s leadership, Zum has achieved an average on-time performance rate of 98%, a 4.9-star parent satisfaction rating across 1.7 million reviews, and an 86% reduction in transportation-related absences in districts like Kansas City Public Schools.
The company recently announced a $100 million strategic investment from TPG’s The Rise Fund, bringing total funding raised to $430 million and valuing Zum at $1.7 billion. Zūm generated $333 million in revenue in 2025, up 35% year-over-year, with a four-year revenue CAGR of greater than 40% and has surpassed $2 billion in Total Contract Value.
Narayan’s leadership has been recognized globally. Zum has been named to Fast Company’s World’s Most Innovative Companies, CNBC Disruptor 50, the World Economic Forum, and the Financial Times Fastest Growing Companies lists.
“Being named a finalist for Entrepreneur Of The Year is a reflection of what happens when you refuse to accept that a broken system is inevitable,” Narayan said. “Student mobility has been overlooked for decades. We are changing that — and we are proud to be recognized alongside so many extraordinary leaders who are doing the same in their own fields.”
Entrepreneur Of The Year honors business leaders for their ingenuity, courage and entrepreneurial spirit. The program celebrates original founders who bootstrapped their businesses from inception or raised outside capital to grow their companies, transformational CEOs who infused innovation into an existing organization to catapult its trajectory, and multigenerational family business leaders who reimagined a legacy business model to strengthen it for the future.
Regional award winners will be announced on June 12th during a special celebration in San Jose and will become lifetime members of an esteemed community of Entrepreneur Of The Year alumni from around the world. The winners will then be considered by the national judges for the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards, which will be presented in November at the annual Strategic Growth Forum®, where high-growth CEOs, Fortune 1000 executives and investors converge to shape the future of business.
About Zum
Zum is revolutionizing mass mobility with its Connected Mobility Experience (Zum CMX™) system that connects and coordinates people, vehicles, and operations in real time. In the $50 billion student mobility market – the largest segment of the mass mobility industry – Zum CMX is transforming a daily source of anxiety and disruption into a reliable, transparent, and efficient mobility experience for students and families. Today, more than 4,500 schools rely on Zum CMX. Recognized globally for its innovative approach and operational execution, Zum has been named to Fast Company’s World’s Most Innovative Companies, CNBC Disruptor 50 and Changemakers, the World Economic Forum, and the Financial Times’ Fastest Growing Companies lists. Zum is backed by leading investors including Sequoia Capital, GIC, TPG, and Softbank. Zum, Zum CMX, and associated logos are trademarks of Zum Services, Inc. All rights reserved. Learn more at www.ridezum.com.
CONTACT:
Jenny Mayfield
Vice President of Communications
[email protected]
View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/zum-founder-and-ceo-ritu-narayan-named-entrepreneur-of-the-year-2026-bay-area-finalist-by-ey-us-302750755.html
SOURCE Zūm
