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The funeral startup, also known as funeral tech, is a young line of business with revolutionary ideas for the sector and which stands out for its mastery of new technologies. These types of companies are driving new digital trends for funeral innovation and have become essential to ensure the survival of funeral businesses, which have been forced to evolve rapidly in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic.
The funeral startup model is here to stay
The covid-19 restrictions have marked a turning point for the funeral services industry. In recent years, a process of funeral innovation based on new digital trends had already been underway, but this change has become practically an obligation as a result of the pandemic. Funeral homes are aware of the radical change in the relationship with customers, who are opting for online contracting of funeral services and are choosing the companies that best adapt to, or anticipate, their new needs.
Becoming a digital funeral home is a possible challenge thanks to the funeral startup model, even for small companies, which are turning their eyes towards a highly traditional business but with great opportunities for growth. In recent years, numerous funeral tech (funeral technologies) which allow funeral homes to increase the services they offer to customers at almost no cost have been developed. Clients are provided with highly attractive alternatives such as the possibility of organising the funeral they want through an app, cancelling or changing contracts that were in the name of the deceased or even signing legal documents digitally without leaving home.
Some startups offer the possibility to optimise the business model, reduce costs through digitalisation and even grow and expand the market share with new job opportunities.
Similarly, many funeral startups are targeting companies directly and offering them the possibility to optimise their business model, reduce costs through digitalisation and even grow and expand their market share with new job opportunities, as in the case of World Funeral Net.
Funeral tech is here to stay and funeral homes that are not able to adapt to the new digital trends are directly facing the risk of disappearing. Fortunately, the process of partnering with a young and ambitious funeral startup is extremely simple and will open up endless horizons that you previously thought impossible to reach.
Some funeral startup success stories
World Funeral Net
World Funeral Net is the world’s first digital bidding platform for funeral services and transfers. It connects funeral providers with insurers, other companies and groups to facilitate access to hundreds of tenders that will allow your funeral business to continue to grow and expand around the world. World Funeral Net is a digital revolution that puts the world’s largest funeral network at your disposal to expand your services in a convenient, fast and transparent way.
Parting Pro
Parting Pro is an interesting American funeral startup. They offer the necessary software solutions for companies to modernise and streamline the organisation of funeral services: families can select the type of burial or cremation they want, as well as pay and sign legal documents digitally.
Ever Loved
This funeral startup offers the necessary tools to organise a funeral in the United States. It allows you to compare funeral service providers and displays price lists. It also allows users to raise money quickly to cover funeral costs. Users can publish a free and collaborative obituary with others they know. The application can be linked to Facebook, which makes it easy to find contacts and organise the event online or even stream it.
There are similar platforms in other countries, such as First Funerals in the UK, which also offers services to help with inheritance management.
Afterword
Afterword is a Canadian funeral startup that provides the necessary contacts to hold the funeral you want. They collaborate with providers of halls, gardens and other facilities for families to gather to say goodbye to their loved one. You can customise the location, furniture, decorations, catering, beverage service, music, virtual platform and more.
Farewill
Farewill is a UK funeral startup that, in addition to helping organise funerals, provides a platform for people to write wills online, including choosing guardians for minors and selecting executors of last wills. The startup is a hit with Britons, and in just five years it has handled one in ten wills written in the country.
I leave
I leave is a mobile app for writing your own social will. This Spanish startup allows you to tell your relatives what your last will is or even send personalised dedications. In addition, the application also allows you to cancel your social network accounts and inform a trusted person of your passwords or the location of important documents.
Closure
Closure, headquartered in the Netherlands, offers a service to cancel subscriptions, contracts and accounts of a deceased person. On presentation of the death certificate and the deceased’s details, this startup allows you to remove or take over any services such as electricity, gas or water, bank accounts, social networks or even the Netflix account.
Deep nostalgia
This platform has generated a predictive algorithm that makes it possible to animate old images of deceased relatives, giving them life and movement with amazing quality.
How to take advantage of the benefits of funeral tech in a traditional business
Collaboration between a traditional funeral home and startups can generate numerous benefits for your business. The use of funeral tech brings added value for your customers and offers you new areas of expansion for your funeral services, which you may have been considering but didn’t have the infrastructure in place to address.
In the same way that the funeral business is highly traditional, the philosophy of a funeral startup is to remain in constant evolution through experimentation as a working method. This means that thanks to funeral tech you can incorporate creativity, funeral innovation and new services for your customers without the need to make the large investment (and assume the associated risk) that would be involved in developing new business areas or expanding the ones you already have.
The philosophy of a funeral startup is to remain in constant evolution through experimentation as a working method.
Another advantage of funeral startups is that they quickly adapt to changes in the market and are highly effective in connecting supply and demand. The best example is the current pandemic situation, where consumption has shifted to business areas based primarily on an online service. Startups have made it possible for companies able to take advantage of the synergies of new technologies to better survive the economic crisis resulting from covid-19.
Traditional funeral homes know that there is only one way to compete in the market, and that way is to optimise the business and take the step towards a digital funeral home. Funeral tech allows you to improve and reduce the cost of your internal operational processes (staff management, invoicing, online billing, etc.), as well as improving the hiring of funeral services and maintaining a close relationship with customers. Funeral startups can be the key to helping you meet or exceed the needs and expectations of those who come to your funeral home.
