Everyone is going through it.
Reality Check
~12.5M Americans experience grief annually. In its throes, 66% report panic attacks, 65% disengage from daily life, and 70% of executors seek medical/mental health support.
With just 40% of US adults planning for end of life, the burden falls on loved ones to iron out legalities mid-grieving, compounding administrative anxiety with emotional distress.
As longevity startups chase eternal life, other companies are helping people navigate loss.
After Life
Executors spend nearly two years on average settling affairs, a process prolonged by lack of access to essential documents.
Like caregiving, death care is being redesigned to reduce the burden on the Sandwich Generation (67% of the workforce) as ~77M boomers approach their autumn years.
Prepare. Empathy has raised $162M for tech-enabled estate planning, emotional support, and bereavement leave. Wellthy added end-of-life resources to its caregiving platform, while NBA player Russell Westbrook’s AI-powered Eazewell acts as a digital custodian.
Disrupting predatory funeral home practices, After and Meadow Memorials are scaling transparently priced, internet-first models, with the latter closing a $9M Series A in March.
Process. Spiritually adapting, 57% feel America is becoming more death-positive. Encouraging conversation, NorCal’s famous Esalen Institute teaches a “Graceful Exits” course, and Hello, Mortal revives “the lost art of death contemplation.” A budding profession, membership in the National End-of-Life Doula Alliance has increased sevenfold since ’19.
Holding space, Behold Retreats offers psychedelic-assisted healing experiences, while Miraval Resorts holds annual Grief Weeks.
Honor. The National Funeral Directors Association projects 78% of people will opt out of traditional burials by 2040, fueled by declining religiosity, cost, and environmental concerns.
Reimagining closure rituals, Better Forests holds memorials in the woods, while Recompose, Return Home, and Earth Funeral are popularizing human composting.
Turning ashes into keepsakes, Parting Stone and Eterneva scored Shark Tank deals, while Remento makes living memory books for the 72% who say preserving a legacy matters.
Notably, despite 58% of Americans wanting “digital time capsules” of loved ones, 79% find AI-based digital replicas—aka griefbots—creepy.
Punchline: Denial doesn’t solve death care’s problems. In the age of longevity overpromises, helping people come to grips with mortality is more important than ever.
