The founder of Pankhuri, a women-centric social-media platform, has died at 32 of cardiac arrest, company says

Kieran Press-Reynolds,DeArbea Walker
Updated ·2 min read

  • The CEO of Pankhuri died at 32 from sudden cardiac arrest, the company said.

  • Pankhuri Shrivastava founded Pankhuri in 2019 as a women-centric social-media platform.

  • Several prominent Indian entrepreneurs mourned the CEO on Twitter.

Pankhuri Shrivastava, an Indian entrepreneur and the founder of the woman-centered social platform Pankhuri, died at age 32 on Friday after experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, her company announced in a tweet and an Instagram post this week.

Shrivastava founded multiple startups, including Pankhuri, in 2019, and Grabhouse, a rental company that was sold to the online marketplace Quikr in 2016, according to the Hindustan Times.

Pankhuri's description in the Google Play store says it's a social platform where women can watch livestreams, take educational courses, communicate, and shop, among other things.

Shrivastava's last tweet, posted Thursday, was about the challenges of discerning a job candidate's skills through a brief interview. Earlier this month she tweeted photos of Pankhuri employees working in an office.

Shrivastava was born in the city of Jhansi, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, and earned an engineering degree from the State Technological University of Madhya Pradesh, according to The Independent.

She got married in late 2020, sharing a celebratory post on Instagram in February.

"Amidst all the variables out of my control, I chose a beautiful constant for life," she wrote.

Shrivastava's loss has been felt across the Indian digital-startup community.

Surge, a rapid-scale-up program launched by the venture-capital firm Sequoia Capital India that led a $3.2 million funding round for the Pankhuri platform in July, mourned the CEO in a tweet on Sunday.

Shailendra Singh, a managing director of Sequoia Capital, tweeted on Sunday that Shrivastava "had so many ideas, insights" and was "full of enthusiasm and creativity as a founder."

Rajan Anandan, another Sequoia managing director, tweeted, "We loved having Pankhuri in our Surge family and will miss you so dearly."

The venture capitalist Vani Kola called Shrivastava a "vivacious bright woman full of ideas and full of life."

"We lost a bright and young founder, but I know her legacy will live on," Kola wrote on Twitter. "It was truly a privilege to know Pankhuri."

Shrivastava's company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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