The chance to say goodbye to loved ones from beyond the grave will soon be possible with tech聽start-up from beyond life.
The Manchester-based site lets users gather pictures and videos in a digital capsule that will be sent to loved ones once they pass away.
An alert will be sent to those that will eventually receive the messages when the user creates their account to avoid a potentially upsetting, albeit well-meaning, surprise once the user has passed away.
Co-founder聽and CEO William Haggerty says he will be signing up for the service, which is due to be launched later this year pending investment, as a chance to say goodbye to his partner and children.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a tool to encourage my partner to carry on with life and to tell my children I love them,鈥� he told 老九品茶Cloud.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e the best things I鈥檝e ever achieved in life and I鈥檓 proud of them 鈥� it鈥檚 all things which offer a sense of peace.鈥�
The concept may sound a little morbid but聽Haggerty says the team has been careful to make sure that it鈥檚 a positive thing for both users and those left behind.
鈥淲e鈥檙e creating a celebration of life,鈥� he said.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a journal element for the person who created it. You could set up an account in your 20s and build it up over the years.
鈥淵ou might make it聽to 80, but when you鈥檙e gone your loved ones are the end users benefiting from what you鈥檝e created.鈥�
Haggerty聽and his partner Katie Jones聽started the company after Jones nearly died after giving birth聽then聽Haggerty’s father passed away several weeks later.
鈥淚 arrived at the hospital to find Katie asking her friend to tell me she loved me,鈥� said Jones.
鈥淚t鈥檚 one of the toughest things I鈥檝e ever come up against.鈥�
Although the company is not live yet, Jones says reaction to the service has been positive.
鈥淲e鈥檝e done the market research on healthy people and the results came back at 81 per cent positive – and the remaining were unsure,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e confident that number would increase once we鈥檇 explained it more to the people who are unsure.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 really have anything to remember my father by and you wouldn鈥檛 believe the amount of people I鈥檝e come across who say they鈥檙e in the same boat as me.鈥�
The service will operate on a subscription basis, allowing people to聽choose how much media they want to leave behind for an annual fee.
With Haggerty being a window cleaner in his previous life, and聽Jones continuing her teaching job, the team of five has sought tech advice and support within the city, saying they owe a lot to Natwest鈥檚 E-Spark hub for believing in and accelerating their business.
The team has also enlisted the technical expertise of聽app development team Dreamr to ensure that the sensitive data being left behind will be secured against both hackers and loss.
In the future聽Haggerty sees the service as potentially expanding into other areas like creating a virtual reality service and using other up-and-coming tech to help people come to terms with grief.