Closure is a Rotterdam-based scaleup that unburdens families after a passing of a loved one by arranging the termination or take-over of subscriptions and contracts. On Tuesday, the company announced that it has secured €1.5M funding from Borski Fund and Rabobank.
Others including, early investors like Kees Jan Rietveld, Lex Geerdes and Wiegertje Groenveld also participated in this second investment round.
Closure will use the funds to support the team’s expansion and roll out to other European countries.
Closure co-founder and CEO Graciëlla van Vliet says, “Our goal is to support heirs by handling the digital legacy of a loved one. This way, families can focus on what is most important at this moment in life: mourning.”
What does Closure solve?
Presently, an individual has more than 30 ongoing contracts, accounts, services, or personal profiles. For everyone who has lost a loved one, it’s a familiar situation: all companies and institutions heirs encounter through postal mail, e-mail, and bank statements have to be informed of the passing.
It is a time-consuming job for heirs, that isn’t done all that easy. The Dutch company responds to the cluttered and difficult to cancel mountain of administration that remains after a passing.
Unburdens families
Chantal van der Velde & Graciëlla van Hamersveld founded Closure to unburden the heirs of the deceased by forming a single contact between the family and the organisations. Heirs can indicate at which companies’ services have to be terminated or taken over, and Closure executes those requests.
The heir can access the progress through a weekly update and a personal dashboard. Closure collaborates with more than 200 funeral homes and numerous service organisations, such as T-Mobile, Unicef, Interpolis, OV-Chipkaart, and Knab.
The Rotterdam firm is licensed by the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) to terminate or transfer contracts of financial institutions.
Closure CTO Bart Verhaegh says, “By applying numerous machine learning technologies, a single employee can now handle hundreds of requests a day. We not only unburden heirs but also help organisations process a death notification in a care-free and less laborious manner, as typically customer service desks do not grow proportional to the company’s customer base.”
‘We commit ourselves to innovations that stimulate people’s financial well-being. Due to the innovative strength and mission-driven approach of the team, we now also support the next growth steps. We see opportunities for Closure to increase their impact in both the Netherlands and abroad.” Says Thijs Reiling, investment banker startups, and scaleups.
“Behind the Closure software is a revolutionary innovation that could also be applied outside the death process. At Borski Fund, we invest in AI solutions because they offer enormous opportunities to efficiently solve quantitatively large social problems. Closure is the fifth AI company to add to our portfolio.” said Bertrand van Leersum, Investment Director at Borski Fund.
