Following the tragic loss of her husband in a car accident eight years ago, Sara Tashakorinia faced the daunting challenge of managing approximately 570 hours of paperwork necessary to settle his affairs. This overwhelming task is a harsh reality for millions each year, who grapple with profound grief while simultaneously navigating a tedious and impersonal administrative process. “The day your loved one passes away, you also get this honorary badge of a project manager for a project you had no idea about, trying to navigate something and learn something when you literally have zero information,” Tashakorinia remarked, according to hinews.
After dedicating years to assist others in traversing the complexities she had to face alone, Tashakorinia realized that artificial intelligence could offer support—not in the intricate and emotional journey of mourning, but in managing the more mundane aspects, such as locating appropriate tax documents, filing insurance claims, and closing bank accounts. This insight led to the creation of LumenUs, a grief care platform she established last year, aimed at alleviating some of the administrative burdens on grieving families.
“I think going through it, your threshold of pain is so high, and you’re so lost that you don’t really realize, why do people treat you this way? Why was I left with a stack of paperwork, and why was the funeral home charging me a 300% markup on a casket?” Tashakorinia expressed. While her vision for LumenUs includes supporting individuals throughout the lifelong grieving process, the startup will initially concentrate on assisting those in the immediate aftermath of a death.
Upon joining the platform, users undergo an onboarding process where they provide details about their specific circumstances. “We are asking very specific questions to understand the legal and financial means, and their state of mind, and this is only to personalize who they are, and then personalizing what happened,” Tashakorinia explained. Subsequently, the platform categorizes tasks based on urgency, guiding users in determining what actions are immediately necessary and what can be postponed. In certain instances, this approach may even reveal that individuals are entitled to financial resources that could alleviate the economic strain of loss. Indeed, billions of dollars in life insurance benefits remain unclaimed because individuals are unaware of their availability.
“We are using AI to automate as much as we can to save time during this process, and give it back to [users],” she noted. Tashakorinia’s background in cybersecurity is expected to be crucial in developing a product that requires users to share sensitive personal and financial information. She is collaborating with co-founders Sajad Mirzaei, a former engineer at Google and Box, and Larry Keeley, an innovation scientist, professor, and entrepreneur. The team is also engaging with clinicians and social workers while conducting product testing.
LumenUs, which is participating in this year’s Startup Battlefield 200—TechCrunch’s annual showcase of promising early-stage startups—is set to launch in early access in October.
