Professional Role and Company Overview
Shreya Murthy is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Partiful, a New York-based technology startup founded in 2020 specializing in social event planning primarily targeted at the Gen Z demographic. The company aims to facilitate in-person social gatherings by simplifying event organization and invitations, distinguishing itself through a casual, humorous, and highly customizable user experience favored by users aged 20 to 30.
Company Growth and Market Position
Partiful has demonstrated significant growth and market traction despite launching during the COVID-19 pandemic, which initially constrained in-person events. Key metrics and recent performance indicators include:
- User Growth: In 2025, Partiful added 2 million new users since January. During Q1 2025, the platform averaged 500,000 monthly active users, reflecting a 400% year-over-year increase, per estimates from Sensor Tower.
- User Demographics: Approximately 90% of users are based in the United States, with an active weekly engagement rate exceeding 60% of users.
- Market Differentiation: Competes with established platforms such as Apple Invites, Eventbrite, Evite, and Punchbowl. Partiful separates itself by targeting younger users with its relaxed, meme-infused invitations and innovative features like emoji “booping” and in-app photo albums.
- Technology and Platform: Initially reliant on SMS-based invitations to bridge iPhone and Android users, the company expanded to native iOS (2023) and Android (2024) mobile apps.
- Workforce: The company’s team has expanded to approximately 25 employees, operating out of downtown Brooklyn.
- Funding: Partiful has secured $20 million in funding led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. The company has overcome investor skepticism common to female-founded startups in tech.
Strategic and Competitive Insights
- Resilience through Pandemic: Shreya Murthy and co-founder/CTO Joy Tao pivoted Partiful’s infrastructure to emphasize communication and cross-platform compatibility at a time when face-to-face socializing was limited.
- Apple Inc. Rivalry: The startup received attention following Apple’s release of Apple Invites in early 2025. While Apple’s service requires an iCloud+ paid subscription for event creation, Partiful remains a free service, which Murthy cites as a competitive advantage. Partiful’s engagement and user retention metrics suggest limited current impact from Apple’s entry.
- Recognition: Partiful was a finalist for Apple's 2024 App Store Awards for Cultural Impact and won Google Play’s “Best App of 2024.” It remains an Editor’s Choice on the Apple App Store as of mid-2025.
Educational Background and Early Career
- Murthy and CTO Joy Tao are Princeton University alumni, having attended and worked at Palantir Technologies before founding Partiful.
- Murthy holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Princeton University. Prior to Partiful, she gathered experience in the tech sector, which informs her leadership in building consumer-facing products.
Leadership and Vision
Murthy drives Partiful with a mission to "bring people together in person," countering the isolating tendencies of digital-only interaction. She emphasizes solving the practical challenge of scheduling and managing intimate social events, a task complicated by existing solutions, e.g., text chains lacking scalable tracking and communication tools.
Her strategic choices underscore an understanding of Gen Z user psychology, social mobility challenges (e.g., transitioning in postgrad life), and the importance of maintaining accessible, culturally relevant user experiences.
This profile positions Shreya Murthy as a commercially astute founder operating at the intersection of technology, social culture, and consumer engagement within the rapidly evolving digital event planning market. Her leadership and Partiful’s growth trajectory highlight strong potential in a competitive space dominated by legacy and tech-giant players.
