Entrepreneur Pankhuri Srivastava passes away, startup ecosystem mourns

Pankhuri Shrivastava, the 32-year old founder of women-focused social community platform ‘Pankhuri’, passed away on December 24 due to a cardiac arrest.

"With profound grief and sorrow, we regret to inform the sad demise of our CEO Pankhuri Shrivastava.We lost her on 24th December 2021 due to a sudden cardiac arrest. May her soul obtain Sadgati. Om Shanti," Shrivastava's company tweeted.

Venture capitalists and top executives mourned her untimely demise on social media.

With profound grief and sorrow, we regret to inform the sad demise of our beloved CEO, Pankhuri Shrivastava. We lost her on 24th December 2021 due to a sudden cardiac arrest. May her soul obtain Sadgati. Om Shanti.@pankhuri16

— Pankhuri (@askpankhuri) December 27, 2021

Pankhuri, the Sequoia-backed women-focussed platform which was launched in 2019, helps members socialise, explore and upskill through live interactive courses, expert chat, and interest-based clubs. It also enables them to be active participants in beauty and lifestyle conversations.

The startup raised $3.2 million from Sequoia Capital India’s startup accelerator programme, Surge, as well as from India Quotient and Taurus Ventures.

Prior to this, she had founded rental startup Grabhouse which was acquired by online classifieds company Quikr in 2016.

It’s hard to process that someone so full of life can leave us so early! Shocking! Our sincere condolences to the family! The ecosystem will miss a special person!

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— G V Ravi Shankar (@gvravishankar) December 26, 2021

Deeply saddenned and shocked by this sudden loss. Pankhuri was so full of life, ideas and passion and had a missionary zeal. We loved having Pankhuri in our Surge family and will miss you so dearly. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family in this very difficult time. https://t.co/Xdj99eDYSg

— Rajan Anandan (@RajanAnandan) December 26, 2021

1/ Yesterday it came as a shock to me when I found out that @pankhuri16 is no more. I remember her as a vivacious bright woman full of ideas and full of life. She was confident. That was something you noticed about her immediately.

— Vani Kola (@VaniKola) December 26, 2021

Shailendra Singh, the managing director at Sequoia Capital India, also tweeted, “Pankhuri had so many ideas, insights, full of enthusiasm and creativity as a founder … We are still trying to process this huge loss. Heart-broken and numb.”

Farewell dear Pankhuri.
You will remain an inspiration.
The woman with the balls to name a startup after herself.

— IQ wala Anand Lunia (@anandlunia) December 27, 2021