Future Factory

What Future Factory does

Future Factory is a private venture studio and holding company headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, that invents and grows emerging businesses by supplying capital, executive leadership, and business services. Founded in 1996, the firm operates as a small, founder-led organization (11-50 employees) under Managing Director Ed Michael Reggie — supported by a Chief of Staff (Kristin P. Hutchins, 25+ years tenure), a CFO, and a CTO focused on healthcare technology, applications development, and e-commerce.

The company's portfolio has spanned healthcare services (American LIFECARE, the largest independent PPO in the Gulf South, sold to Private Healthcare Systems/MultiPlan), clinical trial management (GuideStar Research, sold via ClinEdge to Elligo Health Research), complementary medicine (Healing Arts Network, now part of Claritev), and consumer advocacy in deathcare (Funeralocity.com, a pricing-comparison platform for U.S. funeral homes and crematories, and Cremation Club). Funeralocity.com is the most publicly visible active asset, having garnered coverage from CNN, USA Today, the Today Show, WSVN-7, and Scripps National Media, and operating a carbon-negative positioning through a Trees for the Future partnership.

Future Factory monetizes implicitly through portfolio-company equity value, management fees, and operational support rather than a disclosed software-product subscription. Pricing models, revenue figures, and detailed GTM mechanics are not publicly disclosed; the company positions itself as an architect of strategy and operational executor across its invested firms rather than a vendor of a unified platform.

Name

Future Factory

Legal name

Future Factory, LLC

Website

https://futurefactory.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Future Factory is a New Orleans-based private venture studio that supplies capital and business services to emerging companies, with active portfolio assets including Funeralocity.com (a U.S. funeral pricing platform) and Cremation Club.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New Orleans

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Future Factory is a venture studio and holding company that provides capital and business services to emerging companies across consumer advocacy, funeral and end-of-life services, healthcare, research, and wellness verticals. It supports these companies both through direct investment and operational involvement, including ownership of operating platforms such as Funeralocity.com, Cremation Club, GuideStar Research, American LIFECARE, and Healing Arts Network.

Product overview

Future Factory is a venture studio/holding company that invents and grows businesses rather than offering a unified software platform. Its portfolio includes Funeralocity.com (consumer advocacy for funeral planning with pricing comparisons), Cremation Club (cremation services), and previously held American LIFECARE (PPO/healthcare), GuideStar Research (clinical trials), and Healing Arts Network (alternative medicine). The company provides capital and business services to these emerging companies, serving as an incubator and investor rather than a product vendor.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Funeralocity.com: Consumer advocacy platform for funeral planning that provides comparison prices for every funeral home and crematory in the US, helping families make informed decisions about funeral services.

Products and services

• Funeralocity.com Online consumer advocacy platform in the funeral services space, listed as part of Future Factory's portfolio of emerging companies.
• Cremation Club Membership/service platform in the cremation and end-of-life services sector, operated within Future Factory's portfolio.
• GuideStar Research Research and information services platform acquired and held within Future Factory's portfolio of emerging companies.
• American LIFECARE Healthcare services company acquired and held within Future Factory's portfolio of emerging companies.
• Healing Arts Network Wellness and healing arts network acquired and held within Future Factory's portfolio of emerging companies.

Quantifiable outcome

• Led the sale of American LIFECARE to Private Healthcare Systems, now part of MultiPlan
• +2 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered major and minor.

• Elligo Health ResearchmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 September 2021Elligo Health Research acquired ClinEdge, which included GuideStar Research (a Future Factory portfolio company founded by Kristin Hutchins). GuideStar was a clinical trials management company focused on development and management of clinical research programs for hospitals, academic medical centers, and physician practices.
• ClaritevmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAmerican LIFECARE (founded by Ed Michael Reggie) became part of Claritev. Healing Arts Network, a complementary and alternative medicine network also founded by Ed Michael Reggie, is now part of Claritev.
• MultiPlanmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAmerican LIFECARE was sold to Private Healthcare Systems, which is now part of MultiPlan (NYSE: MPLN). American LIFECARE was the largest independent PPO in the Gulf South region.
• Trees for the FutureminorGTM or Marketing PartnerFuneralocity partnered with Trees for the Future to support reforestation efforts and offset carbon. Funeralocity is committed to being carbon-negative.
• Grameen FoundationminorGTM or Marketing PartnerEd Michael Reggie was a longtime trustee of Grameen Foundation, an innovative NGO combatting global hunger and poverty.
• New Orleans BioInnovation CenterminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEd Michael Reggie served on the board of directors of the New Orleans BioInnovation Center, a wet lab incubator.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Pioneer Square Labs (PSL): PSL is a venture studio that builds and launches startups from scratch in Seattle, providing capital, co-founders, and operational support. Comparable to Future Factory as an operator-led venture studio that incubates companies from inside.
• Idealab: Idealab is one of the longest-running independent technology venture studios, founded in 1996 (same year as Future Factory). It creates and operates companies in-house, providing capital, operational support, and executive leadership—directly comparable to Future Factory's venture studio model.
• Science Inc. Science Inc. is a venture studio that creates, launches, and scales consumer and SaaS businesses. Its hybrid investor/operator model, with multiple portfolio companies built and exited, parallels Future Factory's venture studio business model.
• High Alpha: High Alpha is a venture studio that builds B2B SaaS companies, providing capital, a co-founder, and operational support. Its studio model of inventing and growing businesses is closely aligned with Future Factory's venture studio approach.
• Betaworks: Betaworks is a venture studio that builds and invests in early-stage internet-focused companies, often creating startups internally. Its model of inventing companies and providing capital and operational support is comparable to Future Factory.
• Atomic: Atomic is a venture studio that recruits founders, prototypes ideas, and builds SaaS companies. Its hands-on, capital-plus-operations model mirrors Future Factory's approach of providing capital and business services to emerging companies.

Emerging players

• Tribute Technology: Tribute Technology provides funeral home websites, marketing, and technology solutions, similar to the funeral-industry technology focus of Funeralocity.com. It is an emerging player with partial overlap in funeral services digital infrastructure.
• Parting Pro: Parting Pro is a funeral home CRM and online obituary platform serving the same funeral industry that Funeralocity.com addresses. It is an emerging player with overlapping functionality in funeral services technology.

Broad incumbents

• Foundation Partners Group: Foundation Partners is a large private operator of funeral homes and cremation centers across the US. It is a broad incumbent in the funeral industry that Funeralocity.com competes against by aggregating their pricing data.
• Service Corporation International: SCI is the largest funeral services company in North America, operating thousands of funeral homes and cemeteries. It is a broad incumbent in the same industry as Future Factory's active portfolio companies (Funeralocity.com, Cremation Club), though it does not operate a venture studio.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/askfuturefactory
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/future-factory

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Future Factory