More companies hope to cash in on the changing face of Death Care

September 17, 2021/Business, Products/

I recently read this article where Bank of America has profiled 14 future “moonshot” technologies that they believe could offer vast wealth to those who are lucky enough to invest in them. In reading that article, I realized that, to a certain extent we have, maybe not moonshot technologies, but at least planetary technologies in the death care business finding funding almost every day. In essence, there is a lot of interest in the “new technology” of Death Care.

Bank of America pointed out that over the past 30 years the global stock market has generated $56.2 trillion in new wealth. Interestingly, the vast majority of that new wealth has been generated by only 1.5% of the companies in the world. . . . .Big rewards, but not great odds. So, in Death Care, who will those companies and/or technologies be? . . . . . .that is the biggest question not only for investors but for independent operators also. . . . . independent operators of Death Care will be putting many of the technologies into practice and pairing up with the right technology. . . . or the wrong technology could make a big difference in your funeral business’ future.

Here’s a couple of new start-ups in the Death Care business we learned about only this week:

Lalo — An app designed not for the public, but for intimate family groups. This article from Geekwire states that Lalo is started “with the mission of giving people a private, digital space to connect, share stories and hold on to precious memories. . . .groups are intentionally kept small to foster increased trust and privacy. Imagine family members gathering to collect the best recipes in one space or share images that might have been lost to an unseen photo album.”

According to founder Juan Medina, a former Amazon employee, “It’s a space to capture those more important family memories, the Sunday phone call from the grandkids to the grandparents where they can say, ‘Grandpa, tell me about a time …”

Lalo plans to be add-free and finance its operations via a $25 per family annual subscription fee. The company is in beta testing at this time and has obtained financing from Columbus, Ohio, based venture capital firm Overlooked Ventures.

Lalo has eight employees at present and was recently invited to attend the Washington Technology Industry Association’s 6th founder Cohort according to the Geekwire article. The company plans to be operational for public use in early 2022.

Sendoff — Sendoff, according to this article from Business Insider South Africa, is an app that one can use to pre-plan their own funeral. According to the article, one may select pre-set funeral packages that include cemetery, body preparation, casket, death registration and more. The plan is then archived with Sendoff who is notified by either a family member or death location or hospice at the time of death.

At that time, with that first call, everything can be handled by Sendoff according to the archived plan.

Sendoff has been in operation since May 2021 and according to founder Matebese Sethaba was launched because of his frustrations with the traditional way of planning a funeral.

According to the Business Insider article . .”.the app simplifies funeral planning using its in-app checklist, which helps users through the process, including registering the death and claiming funeral insurance. It eliminates the burden of having to phone around searching for the best service providers and keeping track of them by managing the tasks for users in the background.”

Also, according to the article, “people have been receptive to the app, with the case for it strengthened by the Covid-19 pandemic – with people still afraid to visit funeral homes and parlours.”

Related – Sendoff website

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