Entrepreneur Pankhuri Srivastava passes away, startup ecosystem mourns

Venture capitalists and top executives took to social media to condole the untimely demise of entrepreneur Pankhuri Srivastava.

Pankhuri Srivastava, 32-year-old founder of women-centric social community platform ‘Pankhuri’, passed away on December 24. Venture capitalists and top executives mourned his untimely demise on social media.

Pankhuri, the Sequoia-backed women-centric platform, launched in 2019, helps members socialize, explore and upskill through live interactive courses, expert chats and interest-based clubs. It also enabled her to be an active participant in the conversation of beauty and lifestyle. The startup raised $3.2 million from Sequoia Capital India’s startup accelerator program Surge, as well as India Quotient and Taurus Ventures.

Prior to that, she co-founded rental startup Grabhouse, which was acquired by online classifieds company Quikr in 2016.

Shailendra Singh, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital India also tweeted, “Pankhuri had a lot of ideas, insights, enthusiasm and creativity as a founder…we are still trying to process this huge loss. Heartbroken and numb.”