31. Zum

Founders: Ritu Narayan (CEO), Vivek Garg, Abhishek Garg
Launched: 2015
Headquarters: Redwood City, California
Funding: $350 million
Valuation: $1.3 billion
Key technologies: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, machine learning
Industry: Transportation
Previous appearances on Disruptor 50 List: 1 (No. 45 in 2022)

Persephone Kavallines

Zum is continuing on its journey to disrupt the $50 billion student transportation industry, aiming to make it safer, more reliable and sustainable.

Thanks to a $140 million Series E round that valued Zum at $1.3 billion alongside a more than $26 million grant from the EPA's first clean school bus program, both coming in January, the company is accelerating key efforts around decarbonization like transitioning its fleet of school buses to 100% electric and expanding its AI-driven technology platform that sends stored energy from EV school buses back to electrical grids.

Launched in 2015 by Ritu Narayan, a first-generation immigrant and mother, Zum set out to change the lives of working parents — a reflection of the struggles she felt while managing her career while also ensuring her kids got to and from school.

Taking on that challenge has resonated with parents and school districts. Zum now provides transportation for more than 4,000 schools across the U.S., including in Massachusetts, Maryland, California, Washington, Texas, Illinois, and Tennessee, and with plans to launch this year in Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Connecticut.

That includes the Oakland Unified School District, which has set out to become the first major school district in the nation to have a 100% fully electric school bus fleet in 2024. Zum's own goal is to have its entire fleet of school buses be fully electric by 2027.

Greening school transportation is a key part of the fight against climate change, as school buses are the largest mass transit system in the U.S. and roughly 90% of them run on diesel, according to Zum. It's also become a priority for the Biden administration in its climate goals, as evident by the nearly $90 million in EPA awards received by Zum and several California schools to purchase clean school buses.

"Zum is on a mission to revolutionize student transportation, moving beyond the status quo towards a future where innovative technologies are used to advance sustainability efforts," Narayan said in a press release announcing its January funding round.