Passare to Bring Funeral Planning Online After Raising $6 Million

The online world was not designed to accommodate death, and that missing element has started to show--social media profiles and other digital artifacts of the departed have lingered unattended in cyberspace for years. But the Web also offers advantages in handling death, and the founders of Passare Inc., a San Francisco-based startup that emerges from stealth on Tuesday, have decided to try to expand them. Although there are other companies that offer portions of this experience--creating online memorials, for instance--nothing has surfaced so far that has tried to accomplish so many tasks associated with death, says board member Steve McKee. “If you make a mistake it can cost you your business.” Passare will start out with 20 customers--15 of them investors--in more than 200 locations, the company said. It will charge funeral homes a subscription fee and plans to share revenue with them and its service providers.