LumenUs, a grief care platform founded by Sara Tashakorinia, aims to automate the administrative work that follows a death. Tashakorinia started the company last year after her own experience: when her husband died in a car accident eight years ago, she faced the roughly 570 hours of paperwork it can take to settle a loved one's affairs. The platform uses AI to handle tasks like finding tax forms, filing insurance claims, and closing bank accounts, while organizing what remains by urgency.
Tashakorinia, who has a cybersecurity background, is building LumenUs with co-founders Sajad Mirzaei, a former Google and Box engineer, and Larry Keeley, an innovation scientist. The team is consulting clinicians and social workers while testing the product. The startup will launch in early access in October and is part of this year's Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt.
The company's focus is on the immediate aftermath of a death rather than the broader grieving process, though Tashakorinia hopes to eventually support users throughout their grief. The platform asks users detailed questions about their legal and financial situation to personalize the experience. Tashakorinia notes that billions of dollars in life insurance benefits go unclaimed each year, and LumenUs can help users discover benefits they did not know existed.