Partiful adds ticketing as scrutiny follows its growth

Partiful has begun selling tickets for event hosts, marking its first major move to make money from a service that has spread quickly among younger users. The shift matters because the invitation app’s growth has been accompanied by questions about privacy, funding and the founders’ past work at Palantir, The Verge reported.

The company, founded in 2019 by Shreya Murthy and Joy Tao, lets users create event pages, invite guests and send text reminders, according to The Verge. Murthy told The Verge that Partiful is built as a social experience, with guest lists, comments, photos and other activity centered on the event page.

Partiful has gained traction on college campuses and in major cities, The Verge reported. Former campus ambassador Ayla D’Silva told The Verge she received a $100 monthly stipend to host parties through the app, with few requirements beyond using Partiful, and said ambassadors could also earn $50 bonuses for bringing local organizations onto the platform.

Growth and a new revenue stream

Google named Partiful its app of the year in 2024, and the startup raised more than $20 million in 2022, The Verge reported, citing earlier coverage. Appfigures estimated for The Verge that Partiful was downloaded 4.3 million times in the past year, mostly in the United States. Appfigures also estimated Apple’s rival Invites app has topped 9.7 million downloads.

Murthy told The Verge that Partiful does not collect detailed demographic data such as exact age or gender. She said the company estimates that most users are younger millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha, and that monthly active users are in the millions and rising quickly.

In early June, Partiful introduced ticket sales for hosts, according to The Verge. Murthy said smaller gatherings such as birthdays and housewarmings remain the main use case, but the company had seen more public or community events, including run clubs and craft nights, that cost money to stage.

Partiful says its fee depends on ticket price and event size but does not publish a precise fee schedule, The Verge reported. In tests by The Verge, a host needed to charge $57 to keep $50, or $13 to keep $10.

Murthy told The Verge that investors had not pushed the company to monetize and said ticketing filled a product gap. She said the core product would remain free, while acknowledging Partiful could add paid features under a freemium model.

Palantir questions persist

The company’s rise has been shadowed by criticism of Murthy and Tao’s previous employment at Palantir, the data company and government contractor whose clients have included Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Israeli government, The Verge reported. Murthy told The Verge that she and Tao worked at Palantir from 2014 to 2018 and did not work on the government side of the business.

Murthy told The Verge that Partiful has no affiliation with Palantir, has no Palantir funding and does not share data with it. She also said she and Tao sold their Palantir stock after the company went public.

Asked by The Verge about Palantir technology being used by the Israeli government or by ICE to identify deportation targets, Murthy said she did not support those uses. She said Palantir was part of her life a decade ago and is not part of Partiful’s business now.

Critics remain skeptical. The Verge cited Jessica Hallock, who runs the music and culture site NYC Noise, as one person who has urged people not to use Partiful because of the founders’ Palantir ties, data concerns and worries about corporate control of in-person events.

The Verge also noted TechCrunch reporting that Partiful had not stripped location metadata from uploaded photos, which could expose where an image was taken. The scrutiny has intensified as the app moves from a free party-planning tool toward a broader event platform with public listings, brand events and ticketing.

This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.