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Empathy serves 33 million users navigating loss – automating the overwhelming to-do list of bereavement so families can focus on what matters.
ENTRY ANGLES
Post-death support and family coordination services (Lantern model) · Pre-death legal asset organization and estate planning (Trust & Will model) · Cremated remains transformation into memorial products (Eterneva model)
VERTICALS
CAPABILITIES
B2B2C distribution and partnerships, Legal and compliance expertise for estate/trust matters, Specialty manufacturing or service execution
Empathy is a "comprehensive, full-featured platform" helping people navigate the aftermath of losing a loved one.
The startup describes its service as "the combination of humanity and technology" – which in plain terms means an app where users can get support, either from the app itself or from the startup's own counselors, reachable directly through the platform.
The app automatically generates a to-do plan for everything a bereaved family needs to handle. In those moments, people aren't thinking straight, and the process has plenty of procedural details – which is exactly where the app steps in.
It helps families close the deceased's social media and financial accounts, cancel active subscriptions to cable, streaming services, publications, and so on.
The app also includes a library of meditations, breathing exercises, and calming audio stories for stress relief, alongside expert articles offering practical guidance.
Death almost always triggers a paperwork marathon – especially when the deceased held property or other assets. There may also be government benefits or entitlements available that require navigating bureaucracy and filing forms. Empathy's specialists handle those calls and document preparations on the family's behalf.
An app is useful, but in moments like these people need to hear a human voice expressing genuine empathy – not just on-screen prompts. So every user is paired with a personal counselor they can reach to talk through everything that needs to happen.
92% of users report feeling better after starting to use Empathy following a loss. The service has also saved bereaved families an average of $3,000 in direct costs.
Founded in 2020, the startup first appeared on our radar in [early 2021](/review/bolshoj-rynok-smerti) when it raised $13M in its debut round. That fall it added another $30M. Now it has closed a fresh $47M.
The subject is somber – but the market is vast and eternal.
About 60 million people die globally each year, with that figure expected to roughly double to 120 million annually by 2100.
The addressable market is the number of people close to each person who dies. If the average is 2–3 family members or friends, that puts the current market at 120–180 million people, growing to 240–360 million by the end of the century.
Looking at the US specifically, the upward trend in deaths is already visible and accelerating.
Empathy initially tried direct-to-consumer sales. That model gave way to a B2B2C approach: the startup now sells to insurance companies, employers, and employee benefits consultants – who in turn give their clients and employees access to the platform when a loved one dies.
Dealing with the aftermath of a death is a real workload. Bereaved families spend an average of 12.5 months resolving all related issues, putting in around 20 hours per week.
78% of people experience financial difficulty after losing someone close. Yet 98% of them never become customers of the financial or insurance services that could help them – a missed opportunity the industry has largely ignored.
Armed with that framing, Empathy has embedded its service into the benefits packages of 28 million insurance customers. The conversion rate into additional products has been 3x higher than any other sales channel.
26% of employees at US companies experience the death of someone close each year. 47% of them report a noticeable drop in productivity – both from grief and the sheer time demands of handling the aftermath. 40% even consider changing jobs, whether for financial reasons or because loss reshapes priorities. Those who stay tend to spend more than an hour of each workday dealing with grief-related tasks.
With that pitch, Empathy has reached 5 million employees at client companies – saving those employers $190,000 per 100 affected employees and reducing bereavement-related productivity loss by 25%.
33 million users and $90M in funding is a strong result for a company that's only turning four this year.
As noted above, the death market is large and permanent. That's why all kinds of startups are entering it from different angles.
Lantern, [covered here](/review/my-vse-umrjom) in 2021, mirrors the Empathy model for post-death support but also helps people organize their own affairs before they die – so their families aren't left in chaos. It has raised $2.3M.
Trust & Will, [reviewed in 2020](/review/jeto-vsjo-chto-ostanetsja-posle-menja), focuses on one specific pre-death task: getting asset ownership legally organized so heirs can access everything smoothly. That means trusts, wills, and all the surrounding paperwork – before and after death. Despite the narrower scope, it has raised $48M (with additional rounds after that review).
Eterneva, [covered in 2021](/review/brillianty-navsegda), created a service that turns cremated remains into lab-grown diamond jewelry – and raised $17.8M for the privilege.
The overarching direction here is clear: a market that will always exist and keeps growing. Empathy's B2B2C model and Trust & Will's focused approach both represent compelling and, unfortunately, genuinely useful models worth studying.