This Is No Time To Die - Or Is It?
The Art of Memorialising - Edition #4 - October 2021
Welcome to edition four of The Art of Memorialising. A monthly newsletter (free at the moment) about the growth of digital ‘End of Life’ services helping people prepare for death and celebrate life.
This edition of The Art of Memorialising is sponsored by SharedAffairs.
No Time To Die? Businesses are thinking it is! According to one report, the ‘End of Life’ marketplace is projected to hit $200B+ by 2030.
Digital immortality is on the rise and it’s big business - death is booming.
You Only Live Twice - once for real - forever digitally.
Storing our data online, is it, For Your Eyes Only?
It scares The Living Daylights of many who wonder who might read their emails after they have gone.
The World Is Not Enough for James Bond links … but this is!
In The Art of Memorialising newsletter you'll read about the latest news in digital immortality, digital legacy, digital life curation and all things #Deathtech.
In this month’s issue:
News around #Deathtech Startup’s Live Will and Lantern.
Our ‘Memorialisation Morsels’ highlight:
Solace an online cremation company raises $1.8m. (No puns about Quantums)
Eterneva makes diamonds from ashes or hair from loved ones or even pets. Proving diamonds really are forever.
How one AI company is taking digital legacy and online memorials to senior living facilities with memoir storytelling.
Why hiring a video booth could be the next big thing for creating a families digital legacy.
Among many other fascinating #Deathtech developments.
THANK YOU for being here.
Let’s discover the future being created through - The Art of Memorialising.
Startup Spotlights - Live Will & Lantern
Live Will Prepares to Launch a Unique New App That Preserves Loved Ones’ Video Messages.
Live Will, based in Argentina, is preparing to launch a unique new cell phone app. It allows users to record encrypted messages for their loved ones. Edgardo Paso, the creator of the app, has a mission with this application to provide people with lasting messages and videos of their loved ones to cherish long after they depart. (via Cision PR Newswire)
With Live Will you can
Leave personal or group messages to the people you care about with absolute privacy.
Have peace of mind about security as it uses the same security measures as today’s banking encryption.
Allocate a guardian to report the death of someone that has trusted you with this responsibility so the grieving process as they planned it can start.
Another Startup in the news is Lantern
Lantern began in the fall of 2018 with one sentence: “I think we need to do something about death.” From proactively planning your end-of-life wishes to navigate what to do after experiencing a loss, Lantern helps you, your family, and the people you love.
With Lantern, as a digital memory vault, you can
Plan Ahead - A Lantern pre-plan is a place to house your wishes and documents relating to end of life; a collection of what you’d like to happen.
Manage a death. In the wake of losing someone, between managing details and your grief, figuring out what comes next can feel completely overwhelming.
Protect your sensitive data using OpenSSL, which provides AES-256 and AES-128 encryption of your information.
Access a library full of article and information to deal with funerals and estate management.
Heard of a startup in #Deathtech? Please let me know.
This Edition of The Art of Memorialisation is sponsored by SharedAffairs
Do you want to give someone access to key information after you’re gone? SharedAffairs will help you do this securely and for free, because they believe being prepared for death shouldn’t come at a cost.
SharedAffairs is an online platform to safely share anything with your loved ones in the event of your death. Important documents, personal letters to those you love, and wishes for your funeral arrangements.
Setting up a secure Funeral Vault, makes the difficult situation for your family and friends easier. They’ll know exactly what your desires are, confident they’re carrying out your final wishes.
Your Funeral Vault can contain details of anything you’d like for your funeral. SharedAffairs helps every step of the way guiding your decisions. For example, what type of funeral to you want? Who would you like to be contacted to be informed of your funeral?
What about:-
Music - Poems/readings - Flowers
Photos - A Eulogy - Catering
Making sure you can communicate your final wishes is easy with SharedAffairs
For more information, and to set up your free Funeral Vault visit - SharedAffairs
To tell the audience of The Art of Memorialising about your new product or service - Get In Touch Here
MM’s (Memorialisation Morsels) 5 meaty bites of news for YOU to stay ahead of the conversation on #Deathtech
1 - Solace - A Portland based online cremation company raised $1.745 in seed funding. (via GeekWire)
Former Nike executive creative directors, Keith Crawford and David Odusanya, started Solace in April 2019. The familiar story of dealing with the death of family members and feeling the pressure of an upsell was the catalyst to find a better solution. Solace charges a flat fee of $895, which is roughly half the average cost of cremation service on the West Coast of America. Customers can arrange everything online in as little as five minutes. Solace is part of a wave of innovation and disruption targeting traditional end-of-life services.
2 - OneDay Reflect - a video storytelling platform sees funeral homes and funeral directors as part of the expansion plan after raising $19m. (via influencive)
OneDay Reflect is the first life documentary video app for funeral homes. Reflect by OneDay is an app designed for the funeral home industry that helps family and friends collect video memories and stories that matter most. The app collects life stories & video memories, transforming them into family keepsakes that last forever. Loved ones can invite friends and family to share videos wherever they are, all through the easy to use mobile app. The technology behind Reflect by OneDay stitches together video stories instantly to create a keepsake that can be treasured forever. (via market’s insider & One Day)
3 - Ashes to diamonds firm Eterneva raises $10m
Reimagining the experience around loss, Eterneva makes diamonds from ashes or hair of loved ones or even pets. Cremations are increasing and families wanting to create a keepsake are turning to firms like Eterneva to create something to remember life, not death. “Something we hear too often is, I wish I knew about this option before I spread my loved one’s ashes,” said Adelle Archer, Eterneva CEO and Co-Founder. For more on the funding round and history of Eterneva, read the TechCrunch report here.
4 - Artificial intelligence program for senior living residents to record and document their life stores as a digital legacy for families. (via McKnights Senior Living)
Benchmark Senior Living is using artificial intelligence to create digital memoirs. Partnering with Tampa, FL-based TSOLife Minerva, they collect audio stories, photos and other materials from each resident to create a first-person digital profile. So far, the provider has interviewed over 1,400 residents across its 63 communities, capturing over 570 hours of data and 22,000 life stories. The TSOLife software also puts data on a timeline and into a storyboard using the user’s actual voice. I interviewed TSOLife founder and CEO David Sawyer on the Death Goes Digital Podcast.
5 - 5th Annual Before I Die Festival takes place on October 30th to November 2nd 2021, in Albuquerque New Mexico
The festival will take place in-person and online with four days of death-positive conversations and experiences. Including field trips to funeral homes and cemeteries, speakers and panel discussions, hands-on workshops, Death Cafe conversations, and more. Click here for more information on the festival.
Other news this month:
The Digital Legacy Association Conference will take place online as part of the European Association of Palliative Care World Congress (EAPC). You can find the Conference website at - www.DigitalLegacyConference.com.
Spotted another Funeral Director offering Digital Legacy advice to families.
A video booth rental company is advertising its packages as a way to create a digital legacy.
My Digital Stamp & Digital Legacy is a poem produced by Pulitzer Prize nominated author Erik Qualman - this YouTube Video is worth a watch
Until next month, keep safe, and keep going.
Pete.
PS: I am moving from using Mailchimp to Substack - the format of the email I find is much easier to read. I’ll tell you more next month