Lighten

What Lighten does

Lighten (Lighten Arrangements) is a Chicago-based memorial and celebration-of-life planning platform founded by Alexandra Koys and operating with a roughly 11-person team. The company serves U.S. families coordinating a death or pre-planning their own arrangements, offering in-person service coordination across the Chicago metro and nationwide virtual delivery via Zoom-integrated live streaming. Its core products are (1) the Online Planning Center, a centralized workspace for managing every element of a memorial; (2) full-service planning for in-person, virtual, graveside, scattering, and balloon-release ceremonies; (3) DIY planning kits for families who want to coordinate themselves; (4) Memorial Pages, standalone digital tribute websites for remote attendees; and (5) pre-planning services that move the funnel upstream to before-need customers.

Lighten monetizes on a transactional, project-based services model. Full-service coordination is quote-based per event; DIY kits are sold as one-time licenses; pre-planning is sold as a forward-arrangement package. The go-to-market is direct-to-consumer via the company's website and content library (50+ memorial-planning articles driving organic SEO), supplemented by a funeral home partnership program that routes referrals between Lighten and traditional funeral providers. Underlying technology is a standard web application with Zoom integration for live streaming and a dedicated subdomain (memories.lightenarrangements.com) for Memorial Pages; no proprietary AI, ML, or automation layers are disclosed. The leadership team is founder-led, with Alexandra Koys as CEO, Susan Opeka as CFO, Neil Shah as Head of Technology, and Ellie Simas as Senior Manager of Client Service, indicating a small, operationally focused organization.

Name

Lighten

Legal name

Lighten Inc

Website

https://lightenarrangements.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Lighten is a Chicago-based memorial and celebration-of-life planning platform serving U.S. families with in-person and virtual services, DIY planning kits, pre-planning packages, and digital Memorial Pages.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Full-Service Memorial Planning: Comprehensive memorial planning services including consultation, venue selection, program planning, logistics coordination, and ceremony hosting. Ranges from full-service concierge to support for specific elements.
2. Digital Ceremony Services: Virtual memorial services including memorial page creation, personalized virtual ceremony hosting via video conference, photo slideshows, and streaming capabilities.
3. DIY Planning Kit: Self-service planning resources and tools for customers who want to manage planning independently.
4. Standalone Services: Individual services such as memorial page creation, photo slideshow production, or specific planning support elements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Lighten is a memorial and celebration of life planning service that helps families create personalized, uplifting tributes for deceased loved ones. The company offers full-service in-person memorial planning, fully virtual memorial ceremonies, do-it-yourself planning kits, and pre-planning services, supported by an online Planning Center portal and customizable digital memorial websites that host photos, videos, and guest book entries.

Product overview

Lighten is a memorial and celebration of life planning platform that operates as a unified offering combining in-person and virtual memorial services. The core portfolio includes In-Person Memorial Services and Virtual Memorial Services (Digital Ceremonies), supported by the Lighten Planning Center web portal for online planning and coordination. Additional offerings include Pre-Planning for advance arrangements, DIY Planning for self-service customers, and Standalone Services for modular needs. The platform also provides Memorial Pages/Memorial Websites as a digital memorial feature for hosting photos, videos, and guestbook entries. Together, these services enable families to create personalized celebrations of life that reflect their loved one's unique personal, cultural, and spiritual identity.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• In-Person Memorial Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Multiple clients report service described as 'best funeral ever attended' and 'blessing'
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• ZoomcoreTechnology or IntegrationVideo conferencing platform used for virtual memorial services. Zoom enables interactive experiences where friends and family can see and hear each other during ceremonies despite geographic distance. Lighten uses Zoom for ceremony hosting and provides setup guidance to attendees.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Eterneva: Turns ashes/cremains into memorial diamonds, a modern, personalized end-of-life tribute experience that overlaps with Lighten's personalization-driven positioning.
• Better Place Forests: Memorial nature preserves where ashes can be scattered, offering an alternative, uplifting memorial experience similar in ethos to Lighten's celebration-of-life approach.
• Recompose: Pioneer of natural organic reduction (human composting), targeting the same non-traditional, sustainability-minded families Lighten addresses with modern memorial offerings.

Others

• Everplans: Digital estate and end-of-life planning platform; thematically adjacent to Lighten's pre-planning and DIY planning flows, supporting families preparing for or managing a death.
• Legacy.com: Largest U.S. obituary and memorial aggregation platform; an adjacent, enabling ecosystem player that families encounter around the same death event Lighten services.

Direct peers

• GatheringUs: Offers virtual and in-person memorial planning services with dedicated event coordination, a near-identical service model to Lighten including live streaming and online planning tools.
• Cake (Joincake): End-of-life and funeral planning platform that helps families compare options, plan ahead, and coordinate services, overlapping Lighten's planning-focused, consumer-facing proposition.
• Tulip Cremation: Modern, online-first cremation provider positioning as a friendly, transparent alternative to traditional funeral homes, comparable to Lighten's modern, consumer-friendly branding.

Broad incumbents

• Service Corporation International: Largest U.S. funeral services conglomerate (operating under brands like Dignity Memorial), competing broadly across the same end-of-life service category Lighten serves.
• Dignity plc: Major funeral services company operating traditional and contemporary brands across the U.K., a broad incumbent with overlapping capabilities in personalized funeral offerings.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Lighten_us
• Facebookfacebook.com/Lighten.us
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/lighten-us
• Instagraminstagram.com/lighten_us
• Pinterestpinterest.com/lightenarrangements

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

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 Lighten