Ambareesh Murty, co-founder, and CEO of Pepperfry, died of cardiac arrest on Monday, August 7, 2023. Ashish Shah, the second co-founder of the business gave the news on X, then known as Twitter saying ‘friend, mentor, brother’ died due to cardiac arrest in Leh.
India’s leading online furniture and home decor platform CEO was on a trip to Leh and was riding on the Manali-Leh highway, and he even shared pictures of the journey on his Instagram handle. Soon after Ambareesh Murty’s news, tributes began to flood in from everywhere.
In his most recent Instagram video, “Motorcycle Diaries,” he praised the smooth roads, which are every biker’s dream. He continued by saying that the More Plains were the ideal location for an angelic celebration. He referred to the bikers as “angels,” saying that he wanted to be an angel, although God had different plans for him as he ran into some gear troubles while on the Manali route.
Ambareesh Murty Entrepreneur Journey
Ambareesh Murty following his graduation from IIM Calcutta, began teaching private lessons out of his house. He founded Tutors’ Bureau, a small business that paired tutors with students. He ran the company for two years in the early 1990s. Following this, Ambareesh joined Cadbury as a management trainee and transferred to Kerala as an area sales manager.
Ambareesh worked in various industries after leaving Cadbury in 2001, reflecting his diverse interests. He learned launch-related expertise at ICICI Prudential AMC. He worked for Levi Strauss India in Bengaluru for six months in 2003 before leaving to found Origin Resource, a financial training company. In 2005, he shut down the startup and accepted a marketing manager position at Britannia.
Seven months later, Murty joined eBay India as the country manager for the Philippines, Malaysia, and India. Six years later, in June 2011, Murty and Ashish Shah launched Pepperfry.
Ambareesh played a critical role in turning Pepperfry into one of India’s best eCommerce furniture and home goods companies, with more than 14 years of significant general management experience across FMCG, financial services, and internet sectors.
Pepperfry: One-Stop Online Furniture Store
Online store Pepperfry offers a variety of goods, across various categories such as furniture, decor, lamps & lighting, furnishings, kitchen, dining, housekeeping, hardware & electrical. Norwest Venture Partners, which wrote a $5 million cheque, provided the business with its first round of funding in December 2011 for its operations in Mumbai. Pepperfry has offices, studio stores, and warehouses in various cities in India such as Delhi, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Ghaziabad, Jodhpur, Lucknow, Kolkata, Bhopal, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Goa, Bengaluru, Kochi, and Chennai.
The creators of Fevicol, Pidilite Ventures, Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, and a number of other investors helped Pepperfry raise close to $240 million in total.
Pepperfry faces competition from other online retailers of furniture and accessories, like Urbanladder, Hometown, Housefull, Durian, etc. Leading e-commerce firms like Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, and Shopclues have begun to provide furniture online, posing a new obstacle for Pepperfry.
