Pankhuri announces Pranay Shrivastava as the new CEO of the company

Pankhuri,  a renowned social community platform where women can network, learn, and shop online through the medium of live-streaming, chat, and micro-courses, has duly appointed Pranay Shrivastava as its new Chief Executive Officer of the company w.e.f April 2022.

Pranay is a serial entrepreneur with a profound vision , and has founded multiple companies in the past. He started his first company, Wheelstreet, at the age of 21 and scaled it to a team of 100+ employees and 15000+ motorcycles. He was a part of YCombinator, founded Gobike, which was India’s first keyless/dockless bike rental company, and proliferated the business to thousands of bikes in Bangalore. 

Pranay successfully established ‘Fanware Today’, an influencer marketing agency focused on assisting digital brands acquire tier 2 users, a segment he strongly believes is the real Bharat and captures the true essence of India.

The position was previously held by Pankhuri Srivastava, who was the erstwhile founder of Grabhouse and a well-known name in the Start-up fraternity. After her untimely demise in December ‘2021, Pranay accepted the designation of  company's head and has shouldered the onus of the position efficiently.

Pankhuri combines the universal appeal of entertainment with the nuances of commerce to facilitate an inclusive online community of women-only users, empowering them by imparting knowledge on Beauty, Fashion, Henna, Nail-Art, along numerous interesting topics through live sessions led by experts in which women can learn and ask specific questions customized to their learning requirements. These courses are available to women either at no cost or have a nominal fee.

"The way people shop for beauty is changing as a result of social media.” said Pranay Shrivastava, CEO & Co-founder of Pankhuri. Customers and brands can now interact in real time, which could be a game changer for the industry. Traditionally, beauty brands have targeted and sold to consumers through large advertising campaigns and store makeup kiosks. As beauty aficionados flood the internet to discover products, share tutorials, and post reviews, mainstream social platforms have been surged with sponsored posts, products and influencer campaigns. 

“We at Pankhuri have an engaged women's community of 8L+ women who are not afraid to go live, ask questions, or seek advice from the community in order to make the best decisions,” he adds.

Live streaming is still relatively new in India, and many women are hesitant to participate or go live. Pankhuri, as an all-female platform, provides women with much-needed confidence and a safe space. "We are extremely confident in realizing Pankhuri Shrivastava's dream of creating a meaningful platform for Indian women to socialize, upskill, and discover through live streaming and short videos,” he further said.

Pankhuri is a platform for women in India to network, learn, and shop through live streaming, chat, and cohort-based sessions, enabling them to be active participants in beauty and lifestyle conversations online instead of being passive consumers.

Within a year’s span, Pankhuri has earned over 12L masterclass registrations by 8L women, consuming more than 100Mn+ live minutes. With offices based in Bangalore and Jhansi, It is one of the most active Online female communities, with 200+ live daily sessions by experts. Specific users spend an hour or more on the platform, and some cohorts have retention rates of up to 65% MOM. The platform also enables d2c brands to reach out to a relevant audience, have live interactive sessions, and connect shoppers to products, content, and community through honest video reviews and live brand workshops.

Beauty and lifestyle is the core category at Pankhuri. We also cater to various women oriented interests like Baking, Henna and Fashion to keep the audience engrossed.

Pankhuri has raised $3.2 million, led by ‘Sequoia Capital’, India’s accelerator program, Surge.

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