Better Place Forests
Better Place Forests operates nine protected memorial forests across six U.S. states, selling dedicated Memorial Trees ($6,200–$18,000+) where cremation ashes are returned to the earth, serving individual families seeking nature-based, eco-friendly alternatives to traditional burial.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Better Place Forests does
Better Place Forests operates a network of nine protected memorial forests across six U.S. states (California, Arizona, Illinois, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Connecticut), offering nature-based alternatives to traditional burial and tombstones for families choosing cremation. The company's core product is the Memorial Tree — a dedicated tree in a conserved forest where cremated remains are returned to the earth, accompanied by a custom inscribed Memorial Marker and an in-forest ceremony supported by a dedicated Guide. Memorial Trees are sold for $6,200 to over $18,000 depending on species and location, with payment plans available, and include ongoing forest access rights and the ability to add additional family members or pets in the future.
The business runs a direct-to-consumer, Guide-assisted sales model: customers browse available trees online but close purchases and plan ceremonies with a dedicated Guide, generating one-time license revenue per tree plus professional-services revenue for ceremonies, marker inscriptions, and grief education. The company has raised approximately $79.8M cumulatively across multiple venture rounds (including a $40M round led by TCG in January 2020) and SEC exempt securities offerings. In October 2024, Better Place Forests acquired Butterfly.co, a digital memorial platform, extending its service surface into online memorialization. The related entity Everis — founded by the same team — provides complementary end-of-life services (cremation, insurance, digital memorials), creating an integrated physical-digital end-of-life service stack serving individual consumers seeking personalized, eco-friendly memorial options.
Better Place Forests firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Better Place Forests
- Legal name
- Better Place Forests Co.
- Website
- https://betterplaceforests.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Better Place Forests operates nine protected memorial forests across six U.S. states, selling dedicated Memorial Trees ($6,200–$18,000+) where cremation ashes are returned to the earth, serving individual families seeking nature-based, eco-friendly alternatives to traditional burial.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Better Place Forests industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Memorial Services / End-of-Life Services
- NAICS
- Nature Parks and Other Similar Institutions (71219), Support Activities for Forestry (11531)
- SIC
- Forestry (800)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Forestry & Reforestation (BPAGAGAD)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Museums & Heritage Sites (History, Science, Specialty) (BPAGAHAA)
Keywords
Where Better Place Forests is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Better Place Forests business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Others
Revenue model
- Memorial Tree Sales: One-time purchase of rights to a dedicated memorial tree in protected forest locations. Trees are priced from $6,200 to over $18,000 depending on species and location. Includes ongoing forest access rights and ability to add family members and pets in the future.
- Memorial Ceremony Services: In-forest memorial ceremonies conducted with Guide support, custom marker inscriptions, and ongoing grief education services included with tree purchase.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Entry-level memorial trees starting at $6,200 |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels7 records
Better Place Forests product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Better Place Forests sells dedicated Memorial Trees in protected forests across nine U.S. locations, where customers' cremation ashes are returned to earth at the base of a chosen tree and marked with a custom inscribed Memorial Marker. Each tree dedication includes an in-forest ceremony led by a dedicated Guide, ongoing forest access rights, and the ability to add additional family members and pets in the future, with trees priced from $6,200 to over $18,000 and payment plans available. The company has expanded its offering through the acquisition of Butterfly.co, a digital memorial platform, enabling integration of physical forest memorials with online memorialization services.
Product overview
Better Place Forests operates as a nonprofit offering nature-based memorialization services. The core product is Memorial Trees—protected trees in nine forest locations across six U.S. states where cremated remains are returned to earth with an inscribed marker and ceremony. The company also provides Forest Memorials as the service wrapper, and has expanded through the acquisition of Butterfly.co's digital memorial platform. A partner service called Everis, founded by the same team, handles complementary services including cremation, insurance, and digital memorials, while Better Place Forests focuses on the physical forest and ceremony experience.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Everis: A partner company founded by the team behind Better Place Forests that provides end-of-life services including cremation, insurance, and digital memorials, while forest and ceremony services remain with Better Place Forests.
Products and services
- Memorial Trees Protected, dedicated trees in nine Better Place Forests locations across California (Point Arena, Santa Cruz, Yosemite Gateway, Lake Arrowhead), Arizona (Flagstaff), Illinois (Rock River), Minnesota (St. Croix Valley), Massachusetts (Berkshires), and Connecticut (Litchfield Hills), where cremated remains are returned to earth at the base of a chosen tree with a custom inscribed Memorial Marker. Each tree includes ongoing forest access rights and the ability to add additional family members and pets in the future. Targeted at individual consumers and families seeking eco-friendly cremation memorials.
- Forest Memorials Nature-based memorial service that wraps each Memorial Tree with a dedicated Guide, an in-forest ceremony, custom Memorial Marker inscription, and ongoing grief education, plus the option to add people and pets to the same tree in the future. Targeted at individuals and families seeking a guided, personalized cremation memorial experience.
- Digital Memorials (Butterfly.co) Digital memorial platform acquired through Butterfly.co that enables integration of online memorialization services with Better Place Forests' physical forest memorial sites, providing extended end-of-life services for customers and their families.
Quantifiable outcome
- US cremation rate projected to rise from 61% to over 82% by 2045
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Better Place Forests
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Better Place Forests technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Better Place Forests partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Butterfly.cocoreBetter Place Forests acquired Butterfly.co, a digital memorial platform, to expand end-of-life services and integrate digital memorials with physical forest memorial sites. This acquisition enables the company to offer both physical tree memorials and digital memorialization options.
- EveriscoreEveris was founded by the team behind Better Place Forests to guide customers through the full end-of-life journey, from choosing a Memorial Tree to cremation, insurance, and digital memorials. Better Place Forests maintains forest and ceremony services while Everis supports the broader journey.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Better Place Forests competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Parting Stone: Parting Stone transforms cremated remains into smooth, solidified 'stones' as a tactile alternative to traditional ash scattering. It competes for the same customer segment seeking creative, personalized post-cremation memorialization.
- Recompose: Recompose offers human composting (natural organic reduction) as an alternative to cremation and burial. It competes directly with Better Place Forests for environmentally conscious end-of-life consumers seeking non-traditional disposition.
- Earth Funeral: Earth Funeral provides green burial and eco-friendly funeral services, including shrouding and natural cemeteries. It targets the same eco-conscious families that Better Place Forests serves but uses a different disposition method.
- Tulip Cremation: Tulip Cremation offers affordable, modern direct cremation services online with transparent pricing. While not nature-based, it targets the same modern, cremation-leaning families that Better Place Forests serves downstream.
Emerging players
- Lantern: Lantern is a digital end-of-life planning platform that helps families pre-plan funerals, compare costs, and arrange services. It overlaps with Better Place Forests' Everis partnership in providing planning and coordination tools.
- Cake: Cake is an end-of-life planning and education platform offering wills, advance directives, and funeral planning tools. It addresses the same pre-planning customer journey that Better Place Forests targets.
Broad incumbents
- Service Corporation International: SCI is the largest funeral services and cemetery operator in North America. It represents the entrenched incumbent that nature-based upstarts like Better Place Forests are taking share from within the broader death care industry.
- Dignity plc: Dignity plc is a leading UK-based funeral services provider with a growing North American presence. It competes in the same broad death care category and has begun introducing lower-cost cremation alternatives to its traditional offerings.
- StoneMor Partners: StoneMor operates cemeteries and funeral homes across the U.S., providing traditional burial and cremation products. It is the closest incumbent peer to Better Place Forests in the cemetery-side of the memorial market.
- Foundation Partners Group: Foundation Partners is a private equity-backed funeral home and cemetery operator in the U.S. It competes broadly in death care services and represents the kind of incumbent platform that could acquire or partner with alternative operators like Better Place Forests.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Better Place Forests social profiles
Digital presenceBetter Place Forests financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Better Place Forests leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Better Place Forests subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
Better Place Forests funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds4 records
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Better Place Forests M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Better Place Forests
What does Better Place Forests do?
Better Place Forests sells dedicated Memorial Trees in protected forests across nine U.S. locations, where customers' cremation ashes are returned to earth at the base of a chosen tree and marked with a custom inscribed Memorial Marker. Each tree dedication includes an in-forest ceremony led by a dedicated Guide, ongoing forest access rights, and the ability to add additional family members and pets in the future, with trees priced from $6,200 to over $18,000 and payment plans available. The company has expanded its offering through the acquisition of Butterfly.co, a digital memorial platform, enabling integration of physical forest memorials with online memorialization services.
Is Better Place Forests a public or private company?
Better Place Forests is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Better Place Forests founded?
Better Place Forests was founded in 2015. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Better Place Forests based?
Better Place Forests is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Better Place Forests make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Memorial Tree Sales are the primary driver. The others are memorial Ceremony Services.
Who are Better Place Forests's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Parting Stone, Recompose, Earth Funeral and Tulip Cremation. Emerging players are Lantern and Cake. Broad incumbents are Service Corporation International, Dignity plc, StoneMor Partners and Foundation Partners Group.
Does Better Place Forests have an API?
No public API is recorded for Better Place Forests.
What industry is Better Place Forests in?
Better Place Forests's product category is Memorial Services / End-of-Life Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAGAGAD, Forestry & Reforestation, with a secondary code of BPAGAHAA, Museums & Heritage Sites (History, Science, Specialty). Its NAICS code is 71219 and its SIC code is 800.