Spending one hundred dollars might secure eight pounds of glitter, ten Domino's pizzas, 406 small disco balls from Temu, or one hundred cans of Coors Light. For a friend's birthday bash a while back, Ayla D'Silva used one hundred dollars on sour candy to craft a sour candy salad. The highlight was avoiding the cost herself - the cash arrived via Partiful.

Serving as a college ambassador for the startup, D'Silva received a modest monthly stipend to host campus parties. Few restrictions applied and no targets existed for RSVPs or sales, she notes - the event simply needed hosting on the Partiful app. Facebook events had faded; planning and responses scattered across apps. Inviting guests left uncertainty about attendance. Partiful emerged at an ideal moment. By D'Silva's graduation, word of mouth elevated it beyond a mere download.

"I cannot recall how we managed without Partiful," D'Silva notes. (Partiful sounds like "beautiful.")

Founded in 2019, the startup introduced nothing novel or thrilling in function - it serves as an invitation and events tool. Its visual style stands out most, blending playful elements with nostalgia for times many users missed: abundant neon text, Y2K flyers, and updated memes. A ready birthday invite mimics the Now That's What I Call Music! series but declares "Now That's What I Call Old." Stripped of flair, Partiful delivers a basic service: create an event, invite friends, and receive text reminders.

In contrast to the app's bold, quirky design, the downtown Brooklyn office appears modest: a standard open tech space with large sunlit windows. Staff work at computers on long shared tables. The setup resembles any B2B SaaS office - save for abundant Partiful merchandise. Neon signs shaped like the logo glow in windows. Stickers and bracelets abound. A framed thong sits in one corner - a joke gift tied to an anonymous crush feature launch.

A popular merch piece sits framed in the Partiful Brooklyn office.

Partiful, Partiful, Partiful: For young adults in big cities or college areas, the term feels unavoidable. Cofounder and CEO Shreya Murthy shared with Marketing Brew in March that Partiful aims to match the status of "calling an Uber" or "grabbing a Kleenex" - the go-to for social invites. The app targets Gen Z, yet business-wise it echoes millennial roots: a nod to low-interest-rate days when startups could upend groceries, rides, or invites without profits. Growth drove those disruptors - build users first, monetize later.

Despite its simple product, Partiful drew heavy attention and thinkpieces: labeled a "vibey nightmare" with "out of control" etiquette. GQ urged "Stop sending me Partiful invitations," calling it "yassified Evite." Another ongoing issue involves Murthy and cofounder Joy Tao's prior Palantir roles, the data firm serving clients like ICE and the Israeli government. With no major revenue until recently, this sparked outrage, misinformation, defenses, and slick marketing. Amid tech distrust over data handling, the Partiful-Palantir link remains sensitive. "Can we trust the Palantir alumni party app?" users ask. And how to view this useful free tool?

In her office, Murthy explains, "Partiful creates a social experience, and we built each page as a dynamic social item that captures the party, boosts it, and preserves memories." She wears a Partiful hat, with a branded mug nearby.

Unlike ticket sites, Partiful lets attendees view others attending; hosts and guests share photos, comment, and engage on the page. Murthy sees this as a key edge. She also stresses that staff truly enjoy parties.

"We view the Partiful page as social because partying is core to us," she adds.

Partiful cofounder Shreya Murthy in the Brooklyn office.

Partiful acts as Gen Z's Facebook events rival, competing with Eventbrite, Dice, and RA Guide. Google named it 2024 app of the year, and it raised over twenty million dollars in 2022. Murthy notes no detailed demographics are tracked, but most users are younger millennials, Gen Z, or Gen Alpha, with monthly actives in the millions and rising fast. Appfigures data shows 4.3 million downloads last year, mostly in the US. Apple's 2025 Invites launch raised questions, with over 9.7 million downloads, yet Partiful persists.

Its zoomer appeal stems from targeted campus marketing where users first learn to party. LinkedIn shows many young former ambassadors hired to onboard peers and groups. D'Silva saw it become standard as she promoted it. Besides monthly one hundred dollar stipends, fifty dollar bonuses went for signing local organizations, though she skipped that.

Unlike social media focused on likes, Partiful emphasized connections, D'Silva says. The role was unpaid, but she valued it.

"I gained experience hosting events with small budgets," she says. "Connecting friends and uniting campus felt like the real reward."

Partiful's office holds plenty of branded items.

Partiful also funds users with hundreds of dollars for events, says marketing lead Anita Osuala - such as Libra birthday funds or Pride events in June. Staff feature interesting events on the public explore page. They often attend viral-potential parties to create social content.

Event discovery grows key: Partiful bets users will browse for events even without invites. Brands like Chipotle host public events, and partnerships with artists like Niall Horan encourage planning.

In early June, the first major monetization arrived with direct ticket sales. Murthy says casual events like birthdays dominate, but community activities like run clubs increased last year. The fee varies by ticket price and size, with no exact details given. Tests showed a fifty seven dollar ticket yields fifty dollars (fourteen percent fee) or thirteen dollars for ten (thirty percent fee).

With paid features, Murthy says investors applied no pressure to earn sooner.

"Partiful holds strong funding, and investors backed waiting for the right monetization moment," she says. "Ticketing came from a feature need, not a revenue push." The core stays free, though freemium options may follow.

In 2023, the Partiful X account quipped "partiful will not make money ... investors gave us money to help u party." Announcing ticketing, it joked "i guess this didn't age well."

A kind tech firm fostering connections over division, earning little yet delivering value, appeals to many. Partiful revives the Millennial Lifestyle Subsidy era, where venture cash funded dining, rides, and now parties. It eases friend meetups. This may explain why Palantir ties feel like a letdown.

Many claims swirl about Partiful and Palantir ties, the controversial data firm cofounded by Peter Thiel. Allegations vary in accuracy but persist in coverage and comments: Palantir as the party spoiler.

"Picture a Partiful for protests," one TikTok user said. "Lmao everybody getting locked up," replied another. Some wrongly say Palantir owns Partiful; others dismiss concerns as overblown.

The link flared after The Cut's story on founders' past roles. Murthy distanced Partiful, stating no user data sales and disagreement with Palantir practices. Backlash followed on Instagram, including from apparent ex-staff. Murthy called it "fake outrage" targeting female founders for clicks. Still, she told