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§ Private Profile · Austin, TX, USA
Bereavement care platform offers grief support, care coordination, and mental health expertise for organizations & employees.
Betterleave is a digital health and human resources technology company based in Austin, Texas, that provides a bereavement care platform to help organizations support employees navigating grief. Operating through a B2B enterprise model, the platform combines care coordination with clinical mental health expertise to assist individuals with funeral planning, estate coordination, and counseling. The company has expanded its clinical network to offer licensed therapy across all 50 states and has raised $2.4 million in seed funding. This financial backing was led by Chingona Ventures, with additional participation from investment firms including Bread and Butter Ventures and Vitalize VC. Beyond its core employer benefits strategy, the enterprise has established strategic service delivery partnerships with regional healthcare providers such as Sonder Hospice and LoveWell Hospice. Betterleave was founded in 2022 by Cara McCarty Abbott and Albert Swantner.
Betterleave has raised $2.0M across 1 funding round.
Betterleave has raised $2.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Betterleave is a digital health technology company that provides a comprehensive bereavement care platform, integrating emotional, psychosocial, spiritual, and logistical support for individuals experiencing grief and loss.[1][2][3][4] It serves employers, health systems, hospices, and providers by offering personalized services like end-of-life planning, licensed therapy, community groups, and family collaboration tools, addressing gaps in traditional death care through a subscription-based model that spans pre-bereavement to ongoing support.[1][3] The platform targets caregiver needs, reduces total care costs, improves health outcomes (with 96% of members reporting better wellbeing), and boosts family satisfaction via text-based engagement and analytics.[3][7]
Betterleave solves fragmented bereavement experiences by centralizing access to grief specialists, programmatic messaging for seamless handoffs (e.g., to hospices for 13-month support), and support for diverse grief types like pet loss or pregnancy loss.[1][4] Growth momentum includes backing from investors like Coyote Ventures, awards such as CHAP Verified status, partnerships with AARP AgeTech Collaborative and American Heart Association, and operations from Austin, Texas, with under 25 employees and under $5M in funding.[1][5][7]
Betterleave was founded by Cara McCarty Abbott, CEO with extensive HR experience focused on employee health, wealth, and happiness.[4] The idea emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, when unprecedented death rates caused employee burnout from grief, revealing a lack of bereavement support in employer benefits—prompting Abbott to address this intersection of healthcare and death care.[4]
Early traction built on Abbott's HR insights, launching as a pioneer in bereavement care to make death care "effortless" and centralized, starting in workplaces.[2][4] Pivotal moments include Coyote Ventures' investment for its integrated platform, CHAP verification for meeting hospice standards, and expansion to partnerships with providers for proactive caregiver engagement.[1][7]
Betterleave rides the growing bereavement care economy within employee benefits and AgeTech, fueled by pandemic-exposed grief gaps, aging populations, and demands for holistic mental health support amid fragmented death care providers.[1][2][4] Timing aligns with rising employer focus on retention via total rewards, where bereavement tools equip HR to handle loss navigation, reducing burnout and costs.[2][4]
Market forces like hospice mandates for post-loss support, preference for digital/text channels, and tech advancements in personalized care favor its model, influencing ecosystems by setting standards for integrated grief platforms—trusted by health plans for outcomes and backed by innovators like AARP.[3][4][7] It humanizes death care tech, bridging HR, hospice, and digital health to lower total care costs and improve family experiences in a $100B+ U.S. end-of-life market.
Betterleave is poised to scale as bereavement care becomes standard in benefits packages, expanding via hospice/health system partnerships and international employer adoption amid global aging trends.[1][3][7] Trends like AI-driven personalization, tele-mental health growth, and regulatory pushes for caregiver support will amplify its data-rich platform, potentially capturing more of the underserved grief market.
Its influence may evolve from niche innovator to category leader, driving industry-wide integration of clinical grief tools—transforming how organizations support employees through life's hardest transitions, much like it began by filling a pandemic void.
Betterleave has raised $2.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Betterleave's investors include Chingona Ventures, FundersClub, VSC Ventures, Vernon Davis, AARP, Bread & Butter Ventures, Coyote Ventures, Vitalize VC, Wisdom Ventures.
Betterleave has raised $2.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $2.0M Seed in November 2023.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 1, 2023 | $2M Seed | Chingona Ventures | FundersClub, VSC Ventures, Vernon Davis, AARP, Bread & Butter Ventures, Coyote Ventures, Vitalize VC, Wisdom Ventures | Announced |