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Ritu Raj is an entrepreneur based in California. He's known for founding and serving as the CEO of the tech startups Avasta, OrchestratorMail and Objectiveli, as well as Wag Hotels, a chain of luxury hotels for dogs and cats.

Education and early career
Ritu Raj graduated from Kirori Mal College at Delhi University, and worked for IT consulting firms in Delhi before moving to the US in 1994. Upon his arrival in the US, he worked for a small startup, AT Systems, and was later an executive with TMP Worldwide.

Chapter 2/Avasta
In 1999, Raj founded Chapter 2, an application service provider (ASP) that supports the business applications for companies as an outsourcing company running the companies' existing networks. The company based its name on the idea that chapter one of the internet was web site hosting, with chapter two being business application hosting. In July of 2000, the company announced that they had secured $9.5 million in funding, with venture capital firm Convergence Partners contributing $5 million, Sand Hill Capital contributing $2 million and Hewlett-Packard contributing $500,000, with the remaining $2 million coming from a group of individual investors. In 2000, they also opened offices that provided back-office operations, security management and call center operations services. As of 2001, the company had raised $50 million from investors which was used to develop tools, expand geographically and increase marketing efforts. In 2001, Chapter 2 was renamed Avasta - a name based on the Sanskrit word "vasta," meaning "to stand and remain" - in order to reflect the company's expanding services. In 2003, Avasta was acquired by NaviSite.

Wag Hotels
Following Avasta, Raj was a partner with the information technology consulting firm Accenture and a frequent business traveler, and the health and safety of his bulldog Zoebee was one of his primary concerns. Looking for a solution as well as a more people-focused career, he and Joel Leineke co-founded Wag Hotels, a California-based line of luxury hotel for dogs and cats, with Raj as its CEO. In 2005, Wag opened its first location in West Sacramento. Based on the idea of a traditional luxury hotel for people rather than a kennel, Wag has a range of room sizes including luxury suites, as well as various customizable services including treats, and playtime. Additional amenities include TVs, use of the pool, leather beds and "spa time" with manicures and facials. The company also operates Wag Store, a hotel-affiliated store. In 2007, Wag opened a location in San Francisco. In June of 2007, In June, the company also bought a stake in the Modesto-based pet quarterly publication, Wag Magazine. Wag now has locations in Sacramento and San Francisco. In 2007, it was also reported that the company was exploring a location in Oakland.

OrchestratorMail
In 2010, Raj co-founded OrchestratorMail, and serves as the company's CEO. An application that works on top of an existing user's email platform, OrchestratorMail organizes email into a set of categories - Request, Offer, Question, Discuss, and Inform. Users are then offered a range of logical response options, in order to reply to basic emails efficiently.

Spring Ventures, LLP
From 2011-2012, Raj was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Spring Ventures, LLC, a venture capitol firm in San Francisco. While there, he helped launch SideCar, a ride-sharing app that connects drivers with people looking for rides. In exchange, passengers can give drivers a financial donation. Initially banned in California, SideCar and other ride-sharing apps have been approved in the light of regulations that require the companies to do background checks on drivers as well as vehicle inspections, and to carry insurance policies.

Objectiveli
In 2012, Raj co-founded Objectiveli with Jonathan Yankovich. A web application designed to allow for companies to set and manage objectives and goals and track the outcomes in real-time, Objectiveli (pronounced the same as "objectively") also has applications in education, allowing teachers to set lesson plans and teaching goals.