The grief care startup Betterleave has established partnerships with two Texas hospices, Sonder Hospice in Austin and LoveWell Hospice in the Dallas-Fort Worth region.

Betterleave’s electronic platform was initially designed as a benefit that companies can offer their employees who have lost a loved one, a pregnancy, or a pet, including access to care coordinators, death care experts, products and counseling services. Though the company still pursues those employer relationships, in late 2022 it began to seek partnerships with hospices.

Betterleave co-founder and CEO Cara McCarty met Lloyd Wilson, president and CEO of Sonder Hospice, about two years ago through mutual acquaintances. Over time, this blossomed into a formal partnership.

“We were really trying to understand what some of Sonder’s current challenges were, especially building a really high-touch, boutique hospice providing some of the highest level of service possible here in the Austin area,” McCarty told Hospice News. “In our partnership, what we really built together was how we can enable his team to reach more patients, more family members and do more for the community in a really innovative and creative way.”

Via the partnership, the families Sonder serves can access Betterleave’s digital platform, allowing for multi-channel communication beyond phone calls, pamphlets and mailers. The platform is designed to aid families in dealing with the logistics of a family member’s death. It also connects families with support groups and workshops; materials such as articles, videos and journals and a network of grief experts.

“There’s a lot of opportunities in hospice to use technology to extend what we’re already able to do in person and over the phone. We think with Betterleave, family members can get on their grief support platform, and they can have additional support,” Wilson told Hospice News. “We have a lot of folks who moved to Austin from other places, and they have family members all over the country, all over the world, who can access more grief support now than they’ve ever been able to. That’s something that previously as a midsize hospice wasn’t something that we can support.”

Betterleave also enables providers to better measure the results of their bereavement services. They can track their communications with families, see how many emails were opened or text messages were read, among other metrics.

Like Sonder, LoveWell Hospice was spurred to seek out a technology partner due to a desire to innovate.

“At LoveWell Hospice, we are committed to providing holistic care that extends beyond medical support,” said Marie Morgan, administrator at LoveWell Hospice, in a statement shared with Hospice News. “Our partnership with Betterleave allows us to offer a comprehensive suite of bereavement services that support our patients and their families emotionally, practically and psychologically. We believe this collaboration will significantly enhance the level of care and support we can provide.”

Austin, Texas-based Betterleave launched in late March 2022 with backing from the investment firms HR Leaders, Strive Ventures, Math Venture Partners, and The Fund. In November 2023, the startup secured an additional $2.4 million in a funding round led by Chingona Ventures.

The startup’s hospice partners include a range of small community-based organizations and large multi-state providers.

Individual partnerships have developed in a number of ways. Some hospices have reached out to Betterleave to discuss opportunities to work together, and the tech platform has done its own marketing to prospective client organizations.

“What’s really special about hospice is everyone in hospice is going through some piece of grief and loss. And so the impact and the engagement of how we can help people is significantly higher than some of our other channels,” McCarty said. “It’s such a powerful opportunity for people to be able to go through hospice, and if we can educate consumers more about what hospice does, or the wonderful work that hospice groups are doing and allowing them to measure their bereavement care efforts.”