FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 10, 2024
Contact: Anthony Triana
atriana@saxum.com
405-818-0791
Cortado Ventures invests in funeral planning startup Prelude
Prelude is a member-based, preneed insurance collective with AI enabled B2B software
OKLAHOMA CITY — Cortado Ventures has invested in the end-to-end digital preneed funeral planning company Prelude, which helps families, as well as funeral homes, craft an individual’s legacy by making it easier to plan and pre-pay for their own funeral. Offering a human-focused alternative to the highly transactional options in the funeral planning industry, Prelude harnesses a member-based insurance collective with AI-enabled B2B software aimed at transforming the funeral pre-planning process.
“Prelude’s innovative solutions to funeral planning provides not only logistical ease but also emotional comfort and security before one of life’s most sensitive times,” said Cortado Ventures’ Managing Partner Nathaniel Harding. “End-of-life planning is never easy, but Cortado is excited to invest in a company that will serve Oklahomans, in life and after, and provide families some certainty in the face of life’s greatest uncertainty.”
Tulsa-based Prelude works with a robust network of partners—including insurance providers, investors, and industry professionals—to offer a compassionate and simple approach to pre-planning that fulfills the promise of meaningful preparation.
“The business of the funeral home is largely in a reactive-state due to at-need families,” said Prelude CEO Kris Yee. “We’re truly offering an opportunity for funeral homes to get proactive about their business, increase revenue, and broaden their impact.”
Prelude is the first successful spin out from 19 Days, a Tulsa-based venture studio that builds B2B SaaS companies, backed by multiple investors, including Cortado Ventures. As part of 19 Days’ in-depth problem and customer discovery processes, the team assisted Prelude in conducting over 50 hours of field research and 50 interviews with funeral directors to best identify pain points in the industry, prior to developing their pre-planning platform. With Oklahoma as its pilot market, the company expects to expand to additional states in the West Coast and the South.
“We’re thrilled to see Prelude, a venture we’ve poured significant effort into at 19 Days, receive recognition from Cortado,” said 19 Days Managing Director Joey Wignarajah. “This investment enables Prelude to continue its mission of putting families first, maintaining its focus on providing comfort and support throughout the funeral planning journey.”
Cortado Ventures is a key participant in the Prelude investment with Atento Capital leading the investment round.
About Cortado Ventures:
Founded by a team of seasoned CEOs and industry veterans in 2020, Cortado Ventures is a venture capital firm that’s working to define the Midcontinent’s success story for generations to come. Going beyond raising capital to support businesses – Cortado’s deep experience as leaders and innovators helps their portfolio companies accelerate their growth through strategic planning, training, and guidance. With focused efforts on entrepreneurs and startups who are founder-led by people with innovative, disruptive, and business-to-business ideas in the insurtech, biotech, aerospace, fintech, energy tech, or ag tech sectors that are a natural fit for the mid-continent region. Learn more at cortado.ventures.
About Prelude:
About Prelude: Prelude is a member based pre-planning insurance collective with an AI enabled B2B software platform. The company is dedicated to transforming the funeral pre-planning experience. By providing funeral homes with advanced tools and resources, Prelude enables them to offer consumers a transparent and compassionate pre-planning process. Funeral homes are able to unlock more revenues, faster, through the Prelude membership. For more information, visit Goprelude.com.
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