Stripe Alum Raises $9M for Meadow: Revolutionizing Online Funeral Planning in a $20B Industry

Meadow Memorials, an innovative online funeral planning startup, has secured a $9 million Series A funding round led by Lachy Groom and Haystack.

The New York-based company was co-founded by Sam Gerstenzang, a former Stripe product leader, and Emma Gilsanz, building on their prior success with medspa startup Moxie launched in 2022.

Transforming End-of-Life Services

Meadow positions itself as a contemporary funeral service without traditional physical homes, enabling families to arrange everything via phone or online during grief.

By partnering with curated venues like wedding halls or chapels, Meadow avoids real estate costs and offers flexible, personalized funerals or direct cremations.

A typical Meadow funeral costs around $1,300, dramatically lower than the national median of $8,300 for burials, addressing rampant industry price hikes.

Explosive Growth Amid Market Challenges

Founded in January 2024, Meadow tripled revenue from 2024 to 2025 and is poised to triple it again in 2026, serving over 400 families in February alone.

After becoming California's largest independent funeral provider, the startup has expanded into Texas and Washington, with Arizona and five more states targeted this year.

The deathcare sector, valued at billions and dominated by private equity rollups, remains outdated and regulated, ripe for software-driven disruption like Meadow's model.

Future Vision and Investor Backing

Gerstenzang emphasizes software's role in delivering honest pricing, superior hospitality, and quality improvements at scale by automating paperwork.

Haystack's Semil Shah praises Meadow for modernizing the 'unsexy' deathcare industry with tech and empathy, meeting families' true needs.

As pre-planning gains traction—nearly a third of Meadow's business—this funding fuels nationwide expansion, potentially reshaping how America handles life's final chapter.