Investors Pledge $47 Million for Empathy
It’s no altruistic move, but a clear business opportunity that comes with tough yardsticks
Since the pandemic-induced lockdowns of 2020 and a year later, mental health and wellness have risen on the priority list of both enterprises and individuals. Of course, what’s been achieved is still only a drop in the ocean but efforts are on and in this continuing journey, a US startup called Empathy has secured $47 million for a platform to navigate personal loss.
The idea behind Empathy is a noble one at first glance, but the founders do have a nose for business as the platform seeks to assist the grieving members of a family to handle practical tasks post the demise of their loved ones. Imagine organizing funerals, settling finances to a plethora of tasks that the platform offers to support its 40 million users.
It may sound gross, but this is death management
The company went for a Series B round led by its backer Index Ventures and major insurance companies such as MassMutual Ventures, MetLife, New York Life among others. It offers a B2B2C approach where services are provided through – yes, you guessed it right – your insurance policies that account for 99% of Empathy’s existing business model.
According to the company, the additional $47 million would be used to build out tools that could focus on their larger mission to “redefine bereavement care”. CEO Ron Gura and his co-founder Yonatan Bergman say the platform now is a mix of AI and human guidance that helps users with all aspects of the process – from counselling to writing obituaries.
In fact, they have thought of more things that require attention from the grieving relatives such as automating the shut-down of all cloud services that the deceased may have used to provide support with more complex financial affairs. Going forward, new services would have more AI components to guide folks through the “what next” questions.
There’s a solid business case for insurance companies
The company has thus far raised $90 million though there is no talk of actual valuation of the business with speculation going round the market putting it at over $400 million. The start-up, founded in Israel, and with a growing R&D operations set-up in that country, has set its sights on the US markets nonetheless.
The founders noted that till date the services, sold via insurance companies and employers, are being used by five million employees and 35 million policyholders. Gura holds the view that Empathy, which was launched in 2021, came at the right time when mortality rates due to Covid were at its highest and people were facing major challenges.
Winding down digital assets takes 420 hours
Though the mortality rates have reduced in the United States since the pandemic, it still totalled more than three million annually as per census numbers. However, Empathy founders believe that the time needed to wind down a deceased person’s digital affairs hasn’t gone down. According to the company, it requires in excess of 420 hours on an average to wind down the digital footprint and financial issues of a deceased person.
According to Gura, a serial entrepreneur who sold a social commerce company to eBay and was also a part of WeWork, a tragedy in his family is what brought this idea to the fore. He says he had no clue about most of the stuff that required to be done when the person passed and that’s what caused him to consider this route.
In fact, the co-founder emphasises on the role that AI tooling has played in recent times to help the Empathy platform evolve. However, Gura is quite clear in his mind that the company would always focus on a human team as the key aspect driving the business is social interaction with another human being.
Maybe, Empathy the platform could indeed plough an alternate path when every business worth its balance sheet is going after GenAI to automate human interaction.
