Vine and HQ Trivia co-founder Colin Kroll dead after overdose in New York

Colin Kroll, the tech entrepreneur behind video app Vine and HQ Trivia, has died of an apparent drug overdose in New York.

Colin Kroll, right, the co-founder of Vine was found dead from a suspected drug overdose. Picture: Getty Images for Variety

Colin Kroll, co-founder of the Vine video app and the HQ Trivia game, has been found dead in his Manhattan apartment of an apparent drug overdose, Variety has confirmed. He was 35.

New York Police Department officers responded early on Sunday to a call by Kroll’s girlfriend who was concerned about him.

The police found him unresponsive in his Soho residence and EMS staff pronounced him dead at the scene.

An NYPD rep said the department is awaiting results of the medical examiner’s report to determine cause of death but confirmed that drugs appeared to be involved.

Police found Kroll’s body surrounded by drug paraphernalia, TMZ reported.

So sad to hear about the passing of my friend and co-founder Colin Kroll. My thoughts & prayers go out to his loved ones. I will forever remember him for his kind soul and big heart. He made the world and internet a better place. Rest in peace, brother.

— Rus (@rus) December 16, 2018

Kroll’s latest venture was HQ Trivia, where he served as CEO of the company he co-founded with Rus Yusupov. HQ Trivia became a viral hit after launching in 2017 as a live-streaming game show that doles out real cash to player — a format that’s been widely copied.

In a tweet, Yusupov wrote, “I will forever remember him for his kind soul and big heart. He made the world and internet a better place. Rest in peace, brother.”

Colin Kroll, right, pictured with rapper Lil Jon, onstage at the Variety Breakthrough of the Year Awards in 2014. Picture: Getty Images for Variety

HQ Trivia also posted a statement on Twitter about Kroll’s death, saying: “Our thoughts go out to his family, friends and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time.” Kroll had been Vine’s general manager for a few months before he was fired by Twitter in 2014.

In a statement earlier this year, Kroll acknowledged that “I was let go from Vine four years ago for poor management. I now realise that there are things I said and did that made some feel unappreciated or uncomfortable. I apologise to those people. Today, I’m committed to building HQ Trivia into a culture-defining product and supporting the dedicated team that makes it all possible”.

Before co-founding Vine, Kroll was CTO of Gilt Groupe’s Jetsetter travel site and mobile app where he also worked with worked with Yusupov and Hofmann.

Prior to that, Kroll was an engineering manager in Yahoo’s search and advertising technology group; he joined Yahoo with the Yahoo’s 2007 acquisition of Right Media, where Kroll had been a software engineer.

Kroll studied computer science at Oakland University in southeastern Michigan, according to his profile on Crunchbase.