A Cornwall-based death notifications company has secured a £250,000 investment as it looks to raise more than £1m to expand its online platform.
Life Ledger is developing a free, automated service which aims to simplify the death notifications process and take administrative burden off bereaved families.
Based at Antony near Torpoint, the company currently sends notifications to more than 900 companies across the country in sectors including financial services, utilities and telecoms.
The business has received the six-figure boost from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund (CIOSIF), as part of its current £1.25m funding round.
Life Ledger said it would use the money to recruit and train new staff in sales, marketing and tech support, in order to accelerate new users and build partnerships with service providers.
Founder and chief executive Tremayne Carew Pole said: “Due to the sensitive nature of the business, our customer service operators will be the core to our success.
“In addition, new sales and marketing staff will allow us to grow brand recognition both directly to consumers and companies, as well as creating partnerships with other businesses that will benefit from referrals.”
The £40m CIOSIF provides debt and equity finance from £25,000 to £2m to help growing small businesses across the region. It has been established by the British Business Bank in partnership with the area’s Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).
Meg Salt, investment manager at The FSE Group, the appointed CIOSIF Fund Manager, said: “We were extremely impressed by the pro-active, committed and experienced founders of Life Ledger who have created a solution to a recognised problem in this market.
“We look forward to enabling the company to capitalise on their market leading solution and the considerable interest from service providers, to generate increased traffic and drive growth.”
Mr Pole founded Life Ledger with Ruth Blakemore following Ms Blakemore’s experience of trying to close her mother’s accounts.
Nicky Hector, a former boss at Ocado Technology, Clarks and Morrisons, joined the company ahead of its launch at the end of 2020, after seeing her mother struggle with the administration that followed her grandmother’s death.
LEP director John Acornley, and chair of the CIOSIF Advisory Board, said: “The Life Ledger team have taken their personal experience of handling bereavement and created an innovative business that not only helps families and loved ones at a difficult time, but also adds value to service providers when administering a deceased person’s affairs.”
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