The correct choice of furniture is what makes a house your home and Pepperfy has been catering to this need for millions for years now. Sadly, the leading man, CEO of this loved establishment passed away on August 8, 2023. Ambareesh Murty died of cardiac arrest at 51. He was the co-founder of the business and met with an untimely death during his trip to Leh-Ladakh. Let’s have a look at how he contributed to the business that has over the years grown into the favourite furniture brand for Indians.
Ambareesh Murty’s early life and education
Ambareesh Murty graduated with Honours from the Delhi College of Engineering and went to IIM Calcutta. Murty’s foray into entrepreneurship began during his graduation when he home-tutored pupils in Physics and Math in Classes XI and XII. He founded Tutors’ Bureau, a tiny company that connected exceptional tutors with school students. In the early 1990s, he operated the business for two years.
Ambareesh Murty’s career
Murty started his corporate career in 1996 as a management trainee with Cadbury India. He spent the next five years in Cadbury’s marketing division, rising to the position of brand manager and working in the company’s headquarters in Delhi, Rajasthan, and Mumbai until 2001. Over the next few years, he held senior positions in numerous industry sectors, including VP (Marketing) at ICICI Prudential AMC and brand leader at Levi Strauss India.
He left Levi Strauss’ Bengaluru office in 2003 to launch Origin Resource, a financial training business for asset management. He did, however, return to corporate life in 2005, when he joined Britannia as a marketing manager. However, seven months later, he switched to eBay India. Within two years, he had risen to the position of country head for eBay India, the Philippines, and Malaysia.
In this role, Murty aided eBay’s expansion by customising products and procedures to local needs while also providing a superior customer experience. He was also the Vice Chairman of India’s Internet and Mobile Association (IAMAI).
Creating Pepperfry
In 2012, Murty and Ashish Shah co-founded Pepperfry in Mumbai. With its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Pepperfry has over the years established itself as one of the most loved and trusted furniture brands. As of 2020, Pepperfry was valued at $500 million, with a $244 million investment spread across eight funding rounds according to The Economic Times report. Goldman Sachs and Bertelsmann India Investments are among its investors.
Apart from being a business genius, Ambareesh was also an avid traveller and biker. In an exclusive with Live Mint he talked about his travel experiences and shared that he’s made two cross-country trips on his new motorbike, one to Ladakh in the north and one to Dhanushkodi in the south. Along the way, he met up with members of his squad.
The co-founder Ashish Shah took it to X (formerly Twitter) to break the heartbreaking news, “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 one.
His last social media post was also from his last trip at Leh, where he was on a biking trip.
The legacy created by Ambreesh lives on!
