Partiful was founded in 2020 by Joy Tao and Shreya Murthy, former Palantir colleagues, in New York City. The idea arose during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to help people reconnect through real-world social events once gatherings resumed. Parties and social events, often dismissed as frivolous, were seen by the founders as essential for building friendships and community. The company's tongue-in-cheek branding – calling itself “Facebook events for hot people” – reflected a Gen Z-friendly aesthetic and bold approach to event planning. This tagline began as an inside joke with users, emphasizing that if you use Partiful, “you’re automatically hot,” co-founder Shreya Murthy quipped.

Early on, Partiful was a web-only platform, but it quickly gained traction. By late 2022, the number of event pages had grown tenfold since the start of the year, with hundreds of thousands of users. The New York Times dubbed Partiful the “least cringe” invitation platform of 2022. Users could customize event pages with unique themes, send invitations via shareable links (often through text), and use features like automated reminders, attendee profiles, emoji reactions, waitlists, and event payment tools. Partiful filled a void left by aging platforms like Facebook Events and Evite.

In 2022, the company raised two seed rounds totaling $7.4 million, followed by a $20 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from GV, Initialized Capital, ACME, and Abstract Ventures. This brought its total funding to $27.4 million and valued the company at over $100 million pre-money. Despite initial skepticism from some investors, Partiful’s growth and cultural relevance validated its approach.

By the end of 2023, Partiful had millions of monthly active users, mostly under 30. It launched mobile apps using Expo to port its React/TypeScript web app to iOS and Android in under six months. In 2024, it was named Google Play’s “App of the Year,” was twice featured as Apple’s “App of the Day,” and was a finalist for the App Store Awards. The team, mostly based in New York and LA, remained lean with under 20 employees, many from companies like Palantir, Facebook, and Google.

Partiful remains free to use, with no plans to monetize through ads or user data sales. The team has tested features like branded disposable cameras (in partnership with Kodak) and may explore monetization through party services or premium organizer tools. In 2025, Apple announced a native iOS competitor called Apple Invites. Partiful publicly criticized the move as a copy of their product, emphasizing their more open and user-centric approach. Despite increased competition, Partiful continues to focus on scaling real-world social connection through beautifully designed, mobile-first party infrastructure.