- Wednesday, February 19, 2025
Ashish Shah, Murty’s fellow co-founder, came up with a heartfelt post on social media platform X, formerly called Twitter, expressing his devastation.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA’S business fraternity was in for a massive shock on Tuesday (8) when Ashish Shah, co-founder and chief operating officer of Pepperfry, a Mumbai-based e-commerce platform specialising in furniture and home goods, informed the passing away of his fellow co-founder and chief executive officer Ambareesh Murty in a cardiac arrest.
Murty, who was 51, died in Leh, Ladakh, where he had gone on a motorcycle trip and was riding on the Manali-Leh highway when the tragedy happened. He had shared pictures of his journey on his Instagram account.
Shah came up with a heartfelt post on social media platform X, formerly called Twitter, expressing his devastation over the death of Murty, who he called his friend, mentor, brother and soulmate.
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
“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,” Shah wrote.
Tributes poured in over the news soon after it was confirmed. Entrepreneur Rajiv Srivatsa, who is also a podcast host, wrote on X, “This is shocking. It’s tough enough to be an entrepreneur. It’s tougher to be one, in a category like furniture and building the brand Pepperfry across a decade. Have heard great things about him. RIP Ambareesh Murty. Condolences to the team and family. Prayers for the strength to all those involved.”
Swati Bhargava, co-founder of CashKaro.com, was left shocked at Murty’s sudden death and called him as an inspiring entrepreneur whose legacy through Pepperfry should live on.
Murty, who was a celebrated name in the field of e-commerce and studied in the Delhi College of Engineering and the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, co-founded Pepperfry with Shah in 2012.
Prior to that, he had held important profiles, including that of the country manager at eBay India, the Philippines, and Malaysia. He also had served as the vice chairman of the Internet & Mobile Association of India.
Additionally, Murty’s diverse professional background included working in leadership roles at renowned brands such as Levi Strauss and Britannia Industries. He started his career with Cadbury and also worked at Prudential ICICI AMC (now ICICI Prudential).
He started working on an Indian online furniture and home goods market by co-founding Pepperfry which was last valued around $500 million when it raised funds in 2020.
