Investors Borski Fund and Rabobank together invest €1.5 million in Closure. The Rotterdam based scale-up unburdens families after a passing of a loved one by arranging the termination or take-over of subscriptions and contracts. In our modern day “subscription culture”, an individual typically has more than 30 ongoing contracts, accounts, services or personal profiles. Closure responds to the cluttered and difficult to cancel mountain of administration that remains after a passing. Besides Borski Fund and Rabobank, early investors Kees Jan Rietveld, Lex Geerdes and Wiegertje Groenveld participate as well in this second investment round. The investment will mainly support expansion of the team and roll-out to other European countries.
A burden for heirs
For everyone who ever has lost a loved one, it’s a familiar situation: all companies and institutions that heirs encounter through postal mail, e-mail and on bank statements have to be informed of the passing. A time-consuming job for heirs, that isn’t done all that easy. A deceased person typically has more than 30 accounts, subscriptions and contracts, varying from bank accounts and insurances to charity donations and social media accounts. Our modern day “subscription culture” only increases this number year by year. Closure unburdens the heirs of the deceased in forming a single contact between the family and the organisations. Heirs indicate at which companies services are to be terminated or taken over, and Closure executes those requests. Through a weekly update and a personal dashboard, the heir is kept up to date on the progress through the entire process.
Machine learning: hundreds of requests performed by a single employee
Closure looks at problems from a data and technological perspective, leading to innovative solutions compared to the status quo. Closure CTO Bart Verhaegh: ‘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.’
Unburdening both heirs and organisations
Today, Closure collaborates with more than 200 funeral homes and numerous service organisations, such as T-Mobile, Unicef, Interpolis, OV-Chipkaart and Knab. And there are more to come. Closure is licensed by the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) to terminate or transfer contracts of financial institutions. Closure Co-founder and CEO Graciëlla van Vliet states: “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.”
Rabobank’s focus on financial well-being
Rabobank was involved in Closure at an early stage with an Innovation Loan for the development of the platform. The Closure service resonates with societal themes that Rabobank finds important. ‘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.
Revolutionary software for general application
Closure was founded by the two talented female entrepreneurs Chantal van der Velde and Graciëlla van Vliet. Both have an econometric background and their B2B SaaS solution using AI solves a major problem in the market. “Behind the Closure software is a revolutionary innovation that could also be applicable 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.