Colin Kroll, a tech executive who was a co-founder of the popular apps HQ Trivia and Vine, was found dead Sunday in New York.
Police said officers found the 34-year-old unresponsive in his apartment after receiving a call asking them to go check on him.
Medical examiners are working to determine his cause of death.
HQ Trivia launched in 2017 and became wildly popular, bringing users together for a nightly live game show that awarded cash prizes to winners.
The show's host, Scott Rogowsky announced the company decided to cancel Sunday's game out of respect for Kroll. He said because Kroll loved animals, the $25,000 that was due to be awarded would instead be donated to the Humane Society.
Rogowsky called Kroll a "visionary who changed the app game twice" by helping to launch both HQ Trivia and Vine, the service that allowed people to post six-second videos and was acquired by Twitter in 2012 before being shut down.
