Can Partiful keep the party going?

One 100 dollars will bargain you 8 pounds of glitter; 10 Domino’s pizzas; 406 miniature disco balls from Temu; aliases 100 cans of Coors Light. For a friend’s day statement 1 year, Ayla D’Silva spent $100 connected sour candy and made a “sour candy salad.” Even sweeter was that she didn’t person to ft the measure — the money came from Partiful.

As a assemblage ambassador for the startup, D’Silva sewage a mini stipend each period to propulsion a statement connected her assemblage campus. There were very fewer rules and nary metrics to deed connected RSVPs aliases summons sales, she says — it conscionable had to beryllium hosted connected the Partiful app. Facebook events were dead; statement readying and RSVPing were fragmented crossed platforms. You could induce personification to a statement and not cognize who would show up. Partiful arrived astatine conscionable the correct time. By the clip D’Silva graduated, connection of rima had made it much than conscionable a caller app you had to download.

“I don’t moreover cognize what we did earlier Partiful,” D’Silva says. (Partiful is pronounced for illustration “beautiful.”)

The startup, founded successful 2019, has not created thing caller aliases moreover exciting, astatine slightest functionally speaking — it is an invitation and events platform. The astir striking point is possibly the app’s ocular identity, which is playful but besides nostalgic for an era galore of its users ne'er experienced: tons of neon text, Y2K-era flyers, remixed memes. A premade day statement induce is designed successful the style of the Now That’s What I Call Music! series, isolated from it reads, “Now That’s What I Call Old.” When the aesthetics are stripped away, Partiful offers thing truthful elemental it’s almost quaint: You tin make an event, induce your friends, and the level will matter them to punctual them to come.

Compared to the loud, quirky look and consciousness of Partiful the app, the agency successful downtown Brooklyn of Partiful the institution are restrained: a emblematic open-concept tech startup abstraction pinch immense windows that sun comes pouring successful through. Several labor plug distant astatine computers arranged connected rows of long, shared desks. It is simply a nondescript agency that could walk for immoderate B2B SaaS agency — isolated from for the copious amounts of Partiful merch peppering the space. There are aggregate neon lights successful the windows bent into the style of the Partiful logo. There are stickers and bracelets. In a area is simply a thong successful a framework — a gag gift, an worker tells me, themed astir the motorboat of a characteristic that allows users to anonymously sanction a crush.

Partiful, Partiful, Partiful: If you are a young-ish personification successful a awesome metropolis aliases successful a assemblage municipality the connection has go inescapable. Shreya Murthy, cofounder and CEO of the company, told Marketing Brew successful March that Partiful aspires to beryllium connected the level of “calling an Uber” aliases “using a Kleenex” — the default for inviting personification to do something. The app caters to Gen Z, but from a business position it feels distinctly millennial: a throwback to an era of tech erstwhile liking rates were debased and startups could committedness to revolutionize groceries aliases taxis aliases integer invitations without turning a profit. In those days, these “disruptor” services were motivated by maturation — capturing a monolithic personification guidelines and figuring retired the business exemplary later.

For offering specified a straightforward product, Partiful has attracted important industry attention and much than a fewer thinkpieces: It’s been called a “vibey nightmare,” pinch invitation etiquette that’s “out of control.” “Stop sending maine Partiful invitations,” GQ pleaded, saying the level was fundamentally “yassified Evite.” But Partiful has different perennial PR problem: Murthy and chap cofounder Joy Tao antecedently worked astatine Palantir, the data-mining institution whose clients see Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Israeli government, among different nationalist and backstage entities. That, mixed pinch the truth that until precocious Partiful had nary important watercourse of revenue, has created a web of outrage and misinformation, but besides protect posturing and glib marketing. In the ambiance of tech backlash wherever galore users do not spot the manufacture to beryllium bully stewards of their data, the Partiful-Palantir relationship has go a thorny topic. “Can we spot the Palantir alumni statement app?” group wonder. And what to make of the truth that this free arena level is really rather useful?

As we beryllium successful her office, Murthy tells me, “Partiful is simply a fundamentally societal experience, and we’ve designed a Partiful page to beryllium a living, breathing societal artifact that represents the statement and supercharges the statement and serves arsenic a representation container for the party.” She is wearing a Partiful-branded hat, and a Partiful-branded mug sits connected the table.

Unlike a tract wherever a personification simply purchases a summons to an event, Partiful attendees tin spot who other is going; hosts and guests tin stock photos, comment, and interact pinch each different connected the arena page. This, Murthy reasons, is simply a cardinal portion of what sets Partiful apart. Another point that distinguishes her startup, Murthy is speedy to fto maine know: Partiful labor really really do party.

“We’re reasoning astir the Partiful page arsenic a societal experience, because partying runs heavy successful our blood,” she says.

Partiful is Gen Z’s type of Facebook events, but it besides competes pinch much established platforms for illustration Eventbrite, aliases music-focused platforms for illustration Dice and RA Guide from Resident Advisor. Google named Partiful the app of the twelvemonth successful 2024, and successful 2022 the startup raised much than $20 million successful funding. Murthy says that while the institution doesn’t cod granular demographic accusation for illustration a user’s nonstop property aliases gender, the “vast majority” of group are younger millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha by Partiful’s estimation, and its monthly progressive users are “in the millions and increasing very quickly.” Appfigures, an analytics platform, estimates that Partiful has been downloaded 4.3 cardinal times successful the past year, pinch the US accounting for the immense majority, according to information provided to The Verge. When Apple announced its competitor, Invites, successful 2025, immoderate wondered whether that was the extremity of Partiful; indeed, Appfigures estimates Invites has been downloaded much than 9.7 cardinal times. Yet Partiful lives on.

Partiful’s fame among zoomers isn’t truthful overmuch an mishap arsenic it is simply a deliberate run to marketplace straight to them astatine the spot they study really to party: connected assemblage campuses. LinkedIn lists galore young group pinch Partiful arsenic a past (temporary) employer who are hired to bring peers and different organizations onto the platform. D’Silva, 1 of the field ambassadors, watched Partiful go the norm connected field among students arsenic she promoted the app. In summation to the $100 statement stipends she received monthly, the institution besides offered $50 bonuses if ambassadors could person section organizations to subordinate the platform, though D’Silva says she didn’t fuss pinch that task.

Unlike accepted societal media, Partiful wasn’t astir really galore likes aliases views you got, D’Silva says. The ambassadorship besides wasn’t paid, but D’Silva didn’t mind.

“I sewage a batch retired of having the acquisition of hosting events and getting small budgets towards hosting my events,” she says. “It would almost beryllium for illustration the salary successful itself was getting to link pinch my friends and bring my field together.”

Partiful besides throws a fewer 100 dollars astatine different users truthful that they tin big their ain events, says Anita Osuala, trading lead astatine Partiful — for illustration mounting speech a fund for a day money for Libras aliases Pride-themed events during the period of June. If unit announcement an absorbing arena connected the platform, they’ll characteristic it connected the nationalist research page wherever users tin browse open-invite events. Partiful unit will often be events pinch viral imaginable to movie contented for societal media.

Event find is besides becoming much important to the business: Partiful is betting that users will browse the app to find events to spell to, moreover if they weren’t invited aliases don’t cognize anyone other going. Brands like Chipotle person utilized the app to big nationalist in-person events, and Partiful has collaborated with artists for illustration Niall Horan to get group readying events.

In early June, the institution made its first meaningful effort astatine monetization erstwhile it announced arena hosts would beryllium capable to sell tickets straight connected Partiful. Murthy says that the predominant usage lawsuit for the app is still for smaller, casual events for illustration day parties aliases housewarmings, but that past twelvemonth they started to spot much organization events being hosted connected Partiful: tally clubs, crafting nights, and different activities unfastened to a wider web of group and that costs money to shape and host. Partiful says the trim it takes depends connected the value of the summons and the arena size but does not connection a circumstantial breakdown of the interest structure. In my tests, a big would request to value a summons astatine $57 to make $50 connected a summons (about a 14 percent summation to screen fees) aliases $13 to profit $10 connected a summons (a 30 percent increase).

But pinch the preamble of Partiful’s first paid feature, Murthy assures maine the institution has not gotten unit from investors to commencement making money.

“Partiful is incredibly good capitalized and our investors were really supportive of america waiting until we felt it was the correct clip to commencement monetizing,” she says. “Even pinch the determination to build ticketing, the thought process was not, ‘Oh, we request to commencement monetizing, truthful we should build ticketing.’ It was, ‘Hey, this is simply a characteristic spread successful our platform.’” Murthy says the halfway merchandise “will ever stay free,” but that the institution could move into a “freemium” model, wherever definite features are disposable only to those who pay.

In 2023, the Partiful X account, successful its signature, capital-B Brand voice, said successful a tweet that “partiful will not make money … investors gave america money to thief u statement and that is what we are present to do. bask it babes.” When announcing the move into ticketing, Partiful maintained its effervescent reside arsenic it poked nosy astatine itself: “i conjecture this didn’t property well,” it tweeted, pointing to its erstwhile post.

A benevolent tech institution wanting to bring group together alternatively of tearing them apart, that stands to make small money but that is providing a work anyway, is simply a dream galore group would for illustration to judge in. Partiful, successful some its operations and its nationalist messaging, is simply a throwback to the era of the Millennial Lifestyle Subsidy, wherever users dined and rode and now statement connected the dime of task superior without overmuch thought. It has undoubtedly made it easier for group to bent retired pinch their friends. Perhaps this is why, for galore people, the Palantir connections consciousness truthful overmuch for illustration a betrayal.

There is simply a full big of allegations astir the narration betwixt Partiful and Palantir, the information institution and authorities contractor cofounded by Peter Thiel that has agelong been controversial. The claims (and the responses to those claims) are sometimes imprecise, but they person followed Partiful everywhere, done media sum and TikTok remark sections alike: Palantir is the statement foul.

“Imagine a Partiful for a protestation aliases organization gathering,” 1 commenter connected TikTok said. “Lmao everybody getting locked up,” personification other responded. Some group incorrectly declare that Partiful is owned by Palantir; others effort to deflect disapproval by saying, essentially, that group who are worried astir the relationship are hysterical.

The Palantir discourse became a flashpoint of sermon aft The Cut ran a communicative past spring highlighting the Partiful founders’ past jobs. In the piece, Murthy separated Partiful from her past, assuring the outlet that the institution doesn’t waste personification information and saying she didn’t work together pinch overmuch of Palantir’s business practices. The communicative nevertheless caused a stir: Comments flooded The Cut’s Instagram page, including from group who appeared to beryllium ex-Palantir, too, according to their LinkedIn profiles. At the time, Murthy herself suggested the communicative only happened because female founders were “easy targets” and called the sum “fake outrage” that would thrust clicks. Still, she told The Cut that her acquisition moving astatine Palantir was “just not thing that I spot a ton of our users having concerns about.” Now the 2 companies are inextricably linked, nary matter really galore times Murthy says location is nary financial relationship pinch Palantir; each clip personification mentions Partiful online, Palantir is judge to travel up.

Murthy says she met cofounder Joy Tao aft their tenures astatine Palantir, wherever they worked from 2014 to 2018. (Tao joined Palantir done an acquisition, erstwhile the institution bought Poptip, a startup that parsed and quantified speech data.) Palantir is, astatine times, poorly understood by the nationalist — possibly successful portion because its activity has intentionally curated a mysterious aura astir the institution and its products. What is unambiguous is Palantir’s governmental alignment and public marque persona, particularly arsenic its authorities contracts punctual much and much scrutiny. Murthy says neither she nor Tao worked connected “the authorities broadside of the business” and that her clients included entities for illustration car manufacturers, hospitals, and shipping companies. Her reside has softened successful the twelvemonth since the Cut piece.

“I understand why group person issues pinch the company,” Murthy says. “The point that we ever opportunity is, ‘Look, we’re not affiliated successful immoderate way. We don’t person backing from them, we don’t person immoderate narration pinch them. We don’t stock information pinch them. It was a portion of our lives a decade ago, and it’s not a portion of our lives now.’”

I asked Murthy whether she agreed pinch Palantir exertion being utilized by the Israeli authorities (the institution says it’s for “war-related missions”) aliases by ICE to find deportation targets. “Absolutely not,” she says. Murthy says she and Tao some sold their banal successful Palantir aft its IPO and do not travel the institution intimately today, though they do support successful touch pinch friends they made while moving there. (Having Palantir connected a resume has besides proven advantageous for immoderate startup founders looking for investments.)

“When I deliberation astir the things that I attraction astir and the causes that I attraction about, that is conscionable very incidental to it, because I’m only keeping up pinch what they’re doing to the grade that I’m keeping up pinch immoderate of the cardinal things happening successful the world,” Murthy says. “And everyone who is location is doing a group of things and doesn’t attraction astir me, either.”

One of the much salient figures who’s raised concerns astir Partiful’s root communicative is Jessica Hallock, who runs the euphony and civilization website NYC Noise. Hallock maintains a page dedicated specifically to explaining why the tract does not usage Partiful, and cites Murthy, Tao, and different Partiful employees’ past Palantir work, arsenic good arsenic broader concerns astir information handling and the firm takeover of IRL activities. (TechCrunch found past twelvemonth that Partiful wasn’t removing metadata from photos users uploaded, meaning anyone could spot the precise location a photograph was taken, perchance exposing wherever they live, work, aliases bent out.)

Another constituent often raised is wherever Partiful’s money comes from. Reporting indicates the $20 cardinal Series A backing information successful 2022 was led by task superior patient Andreessen Horowitz, which has progressively poured money into defense tech companies. Marc Andreessen successful peculiar has go an state of Donald Trump, and successful June was named to the Pentagon’s argumentation board. Andreessen Horowitz is besides 1 of the biggest donors going into the November midterm elections. Murthy told The Verge in a follow-up email that the company’s pre-seed information was led by Initialized Capital nether Jennifer Wolf, and that its seed information was led by GV, Alphabet’s task superior arm.

“Everything that we’ve shared is already what we’ve shared publicly. We are very good capitalized, is what I’ll say,” Murthy says. Murthy added that the institution is not presently actively seeking caller funding, and that the preamble of ticketing “probably pushes retired that timeline moreover further.” Murthy didn’t respond to a mobility sent via email astir whether she tapped Palantir networks for funding.

This is the reputational hindrance Partiful finds itself in: The startup boasts that it has a batch of money successful the bank, but immoderate users don’t spot wherever that money comes from. There was erstwhile a clip erstwhile group didn’t deliberation overmuch of a free, adjuvant platform, erstwhile Silicon Valley operated nether the guise of progressive values, and erstwhile Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook were seen arsenic sources of connection, not division. In a post-Cambridge Analytica world, users person a renewed consciousness of really they are perchance being exploited; successful a Trump 2.0 world, tech companies are seen not truthful overmuch arsenic a democratizing unit but arsenic collaborators pinch a corrupt, convulsive administration. Even seemingly innocuous arena induce apps that nonstop texts astir location parties now must effort to guarantee their users that they person thing successful communal pinch a data-mining institution that useful pinch the Department of Defense. They must besides judge that for immoderate people, nary promises are enough.

Hallock outlines the hostility immoderate consciousness astir utilizing Partiful: People are doing their champion to find opportunities to definitive their values, “which tin consciousness intolerable aliases ridiculous erstwhile truthful galore of america are utilizing tech tied to warfare crimes,” she says successful an email. Even if Murthy and Tao person not worked for Palantir for years, those captious of the institution judge it reflects connected what they are building now.

“It’s easiest to push backmost against systems and companies that aren’t ubiquitous yet — truthful there’s still clip to opportunity nary to Partiful powering our worlds, and to thatch the adjacent procreation that moreover if moving for Palantir will get you millions successful VC cash, it’s a liability erstwhile pitching to anyone else,” Hallock said to The Verge.

Though Murthy is adamant that Partiful does not waste its users’ information, immoderate are nevertheless worried because they understand the immense amounts of societal information the institution collects: It knows not conscionable who my friends are, for illustration Instagram aliases TikTok mightiness beryllium capable to infer based connected who I interact with, but who I spot successful person, who those friends know, wherever we go, what we celebrate, and soon, what tickets I’m buying. When I opened the app successful June, I saw a nationalist arena page for a performance that indicated 16 “mutuals” had RSVPed to the event. I only knew 2 of them. The remainder were friends of friends, group who I person brushed shoulders pinch without moreover realizing. Was I seeing a societal chart aliases a surveillance dragnet? Was location moreover a difference? Partiful is capable to representation retired connections moreover I americium not alert of — but to beryllium fair, truthful tin Meta. The quality is that users cognize Meta monetizes their information by trading targeted ads, whereas Partiful is presently sitting connected a immense trove of accusation it claims it has nary volition to monetize.

“Is the information valuable? Of course. But what really matters is really you usage it,” Murthy says, adding that she and Tao agreed together to not waste personification data. “The azygous astir valuable point that we tin do is usage it to proceed to make the acquisition amended for our users. If we break personification trust, they will extremity utilizing the platform.”

Others are moving to create Partiful alternatives without the baggage of a Palantir background. I initially discovered Ephemeral Social done its website fuckpartiful.com. Ephemeral, a level created by Mansoor Siddiqui, includes an arena characteristic akin to Partiful. Ephemeral’s arena web app is free to usage and includes fee-free ticketing for the first 50 tickets. By default, events are deleted 7 days aft they conclude, and Siddiqui is considering a nominal monthly interest to support the suite of apps he is building. (Siddiqui is presently backing Ephemeral retired of pocket, but says he plans to person it governed by a nonprofit.)

Siddiqui compares Partiful to Instagram aliases TikTok — a abstraction truthful galore of your peers are connected that it’s difficult to wean yourself disconnected of it. These services are surely useful; they besides each consciousness a small bad to use.

“Life is complicated. It’s difficult to participate successful life correct now and not beryllium doing thing morally abstract,” he says. “If you activity astatine Partiful, you’re not my individual enemy. But I deliberation this speech is simply a larger [one] we’re having astir the domiciled of exertion and our information is important to bring into focus.” Consumers should expect much from societal platforms that cod and usage their data, he stresses. (“Some of the loudest claims person travel from group pinch incentives to sensationalize the communicative aliases redirect users to their competing products,” Murthy told The Verge in a follow-up email erstwhile asked astir criticism. “That doesn’t make those claims true.”)

Murthy has a large imagination for what Partiful could become: It could beryllium the level that powers everything group do successful the existent world. People scheme their birthdays, of course, but immoderate moreover pencil successful day nights pinch their important others — Murthy says Partiful could beryllium successful each portion of a person’s societal calendar. The institution is exploring really to plug users into interest-based communities without a circumstantial event, for illustration groups for users to subordinate and enactment successful touch with.

“I would emotion for group to beryllium capable to bargain movie tickets connected Partiful, scheme group trips connected Partiful, book experiences connected Partiful — we already person a batch of that proto-behavior happening today,” Murthy says. The imagination goes beyond ticketing, beyond reminding your friends to show up to your barbecue and coordinate what everyone is bringing. I callback that D’Silva, 1 of the erstwhile assemblage ambassadors, told maine she would create Partiful pages for blowout events, but besides to induce friends to person luncheon pinch her astatine her college’s cafeteria. Once, a friend of hers created a Partiful page not for an existent event, but to show D’Silva to return location correct distant because she had thing to show her. The level tin beryllium arsenic wide aliases arsenic friendly arsenic its users let it to be.

The smallest “events” mightiness successful truth beryllium the astir revealing. One point Partiful and its critics look to work together connected is that it was ne'er conscionable an app for RSVPs.