New Atlanta Startup January Memorials Helps Families Plan Personalized Celebrations of Life

Featured photo provided by January Memorials. Shows Alyssa Hager and Liz (Eddy) Scully  

“We have got to do something about death.”

That’s what Liz (Eddy) Scully said she told to her co-founder Alyssa Hager before they launched their first startup in 2018.

The two ended up building and scaling the VC-backed company Lantern (backed by Draper Associates, Flybridge, FJ Labs, f7 Ventures,Amplify.LA ) to help with pre-planning and after-loss logistics. But after the company was acquired by Wellthy in 2023, Scully said she felt there was “unfinished business” in the end-of-life space.

So Scully (now based in Atlanta) and Hager and back in action bringing a new “DeathTech” company to life.

January Memorials, which recently launched in the Metro Atlanta area, is ready to help individuals and families plan Celebrations of Life that reflect and truly honor their deceased loved one.

How January Memorials Works

January Memorials recently launched its direct planning services for Celebrations of Life, handling everything from florals and food to the overall feel of the event, so families can focus on honoring their loved one rather than managing logistics.

Scully describes it as a wedding planner for funerals. The team works closely with families to build a plan that actually fits. That might look like organizing a Celebration of Life at a grandfather’s favorite restaurant or coordinating an intimate gathering at home. The goal, she says, is to bring clarity and pricing transparency to a process that can otherwise feel overwhelming.

This week, January Memorials took that mission a step further with the launch of its AI-powered planning tool. With a conversational, quiz-style format, the platform lets people walk through their preferences and begin to visualize exactly what a meaningful Celebration of Life could look like.

While still in its early stages, Scully said that she is noticing that families are opting more for planning events later than a traditional funeral (giving them longer lead time in planning) and having events at more casual settings like breweries or restaurants.

For Scully and Hager, this work is personal. Both co-founders have lost close family members and experienced firsthand the gaps in the end-of-life planning space — the confusion, the lack of options, the pressure to make major decisions in some of the hardest moments of their lives. January Memorials is, in many ways, the company they wish had existed.

What’s Next For January

And while “DeathTech” might sound like a niche corner of the startup world, Scully pushes back on that framing. She told Hypepotamus that end-of-life planning is actually the “least niche industry” out there, because death, unlike almost anything else, is inevitable for everyone.

With a growing platform, a direct cremation offering on the horizon, and two founders who have already built and scaled in this space before, January Memorials is positioning itself to meet families in one of life’s most universal moments.