In this week’s UKTN Podcast, Octopus Legacy founder Sam Grice discusses how the administrative side of death can make the grieving process much harder, why we need to be able to talk about death to plan our lives properly and keeping the ethos of his business alive after it was acquired.  

Grice founded the company, originally called Guardian Angel, in 2016 after facing difficulties when dealing with the sudden death of his mother. The London-based company provides digital tools for people to prepare for end of life and to support those dealing with an unexpected loss through the process.

“The phrase death tech, a lot of people think ‘oh that’s a bit inappropriate’. I don’t think it is inappropriate, we deal with death and dying and that’s probably the most human thing we all go through,” says Grice.

Guardian Angel was acquired by Octopus Group in 2022, prompting the rebrand to Octopus Legacy. Grice discusses managing the acquisition from a major corporation and his approach to keeping the startup human-centric.

Listen to the full episode here, along with all previous episodes of the UKTN Podcast.

The UKTN Podcast is sponsored by HSBC Innovation Banking, which offers flexible banking solutions for startups, scaleups, growth businesses, investors and those working towards IPO.

Throughout the series, the UKTN Podcast will be speaking to some of the key movers and shakers from UK tech. We’ll learn growth strategies from both seasoned and up-and-coming founders, hear market sentiments from investors, and question policymakers on the decisions impacting the country’s innovation economy.

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