Brunei based online legacy planning platform Memori has secured its second seed round of investment from members of an Asian royal family as it looks forward to making its soft launch next month.
Memori will use the funds to scale their business in Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia, where an estimated 33 million adults are without a will. Through Memori’s website, customers will be able to engage certified professionals to write their wills starting from $99 – significantly less than the market rate of $600.
A representative of the investor said: “Memori is certainly a disruptor, game changer and is Brunei’s first unicorn (privately held startup worth US$1 billion) in the making.”
The value of the second seed investment and the identities of the royal investors were not disclosed. Memori secured its first seed investment of US$100,000 at the end of 2018 from 113 Venture Growth Fund.
CEO and co-founder of Memori Queenie Chong said Memori was set up to democratize the legacy planning space which has traditionally been expensive and difficult to navigate.
“At least 80% of Southeast Asia’s population do not have wills because it is a social taboo to talk about the end of life and the misconception about the complexity and cost of the process,” said Chong, who founded the startup after experiencing difficulties in navigating arrangements after her grandparents’ death.
“With Memori’s technology, these issues can be addressed. The new social media era has increasingly made the ability to control your digital footprint important too.”
Aside from will writing, Memori offers digital asset storage, including social media and email account passwords, which can be passed on to selected beneficiaries when the users passes away. Traditional bereavement services and insurance policies would be added onto the platform in the near future.
Chong added that Memori’s website is being built using blockchain technology to ensure information remains secure.
Memori has garnered interest in regional startup competitions, becoming a finalist in the Echelon APAC TOP100 and Alpha Startups: Fintech Edition by 1337 Ventures while also making the top ten at the Techsauce Global Summit Startup Pitch Championship where it was awarded as the crowd favourite. They were also selected as one of the top startups in the fourth cycle of DARe’s accelerate.
