Pepperfry Co-Founder, On Mumbai-Ladakh Bike Ride, Dies Of Cardiac Arrest

Ambareesh Murty, the co-founder of Pepperfry, online marketplace for furniture and home decor, has died, the company's second co-founder Ashish Shah announced in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. Mr Shah said his "friend, mentor, brother" died due to cardiac arrest in Leh and that he is "extremely devastated". The 51-year-old was a bike enthusiast and was on a motorcycle trip from Mumbai to Leh. He founded Pepperfry in 2011 and was its Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

"Extremely devastated to inform that my friend, mentor, brother, soulmate @AmbareeshMurty is no more. Lost him yesterday night to a cardiac arrest at Leh. Please pray for him and for strength to his family and near ones," Mr Shah wrote on X.

Extremely devastated to inform that my friend, mentor, brother, soulmate @AmbareeshMurty is no more. Lost him yesterday night to a cardiac arrest at Leh. Please pray for him and for strength to his family and near ones. 🙏

— Ashish Shah (@TweetShah) August 8, 2023

Tributes started pouring in with people posting their fond memories with Mr Murty.

"Very sad my second boss and what a mentor he was... I messaged him two days back and he was okay. Got him added to PruICICI group where a reunion is getting planned," commented Kalpesh Teli.

"Extremely Sad!! May God give strength to his family and friends," said another.

Mr Murty posted photos and videos from his trip to Ladakh on Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ambareesh Vedantam Murty (@ambareeshmurty)

According to CrunchBase, Mr Murty was on the Board of Adonia Hospitality.

He was an alumnus of IIT Calcutta, 1996 batch and completed his Bachelors in Engineering from the Delhi College of Engineering in 1994. He called himself a closet sociopath on his X profile, and professed a love for history reading epic fantasies.

Mr Murty's brush with entrepreneurship began during his graduation when he started giving tuitions at home. He set up a small business called Tutors' Bureau that connected tutors with school students. He ran the venture for two years in the early 1990s.

Pepperfry is worth $500 million, with a $244 million investment over eight funding rounds, as of 2020. Among its investors are Goldman Sachs, and Bertelsmann India Investments.