YFM Equity Partners has invested in Aura Life, a digital provider of funeral plans and end-of-life planning services.
Aura was co-founded by serial entrepreneur Paul Jameson (pictured with his family in 2021) alongside his son Dave Jameson and Ben May following Paul’s diagnosis with motor neurone disease and his experience navigating end-of-life planning.
The business was established to address the lack of compassionate, transparent and digitally-enabled options available to consumers.
In 2017, Paul was given six months to live after he was diagnosed with MND. His wife Jess, a GP, had urged him to seek medical advice after he began experiencing slurred speech.
He wrote a bucket list which saw him climb Mont Blanc in the Alps; play the world’s highest game of tennis after climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa; and ride 110 miles in a day around Lake Geneva.
Paul James and family play tennis on Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2017
Almost nine years after his diagnosis, the father-of-three from Godalming, Surrey is still with us, although he is wheelchair-bound and has been unable to speak for the past six years.
In 2019 he founded Aura, which operates a digital-first, asset-light model, combining a specialist support team with proprietary technology to help customers plan and arrange funerals with clarity and ease.
Led by Dave – a former strategist at LADbible and VICE – the business partners with a trusted national network of providers to deliver local, flexible services, enabling Aura to focus on customer experience and quality.
The UK funeral market is undergoing significant change, driven by the emergence of direct cremations, evolving consumer preferences around celebrations of life, and the introduction of FCA regulation for funeral plans in 2022. Aura was built to operate in this more regulated, digitally-enabled environment.
YFM’s investment will support Aura’s next phase of growth, including further investment in marketing and distribution, expansion into adjacent end-of-life services, and continued strengthening of the senior team and operational infrastructure.
Recent senior hires include Paul Reed (ex-Memoria) as chief commercial officer, Imogen Benson as head of product, and Pablo Uson as CFO. Gill Stewart has also joined the board as a non-executive director, bringing significant sector experience from her tenure leading the Funeralcare division at the Co-op.
“Our mission has always been to bring greater transparency, compassion and simplicity to end-of-life planning,” said Dave Jameson.
“The market is changing rapidly, and we believe customers increasingly expect a more modern, digitally enabled experience.
“Partnering with YFM gives us the capital and strategic support to accelerate our growth, expand our offering and continue improving the experience we provide to families across the UK.”
Adam Hart, partner at YFM Equity Partners, said: “Aura is well positioned at a point of structural change in the funeral services market. The team has built a differentiated, digital-first proposition that combines strong regulatory foundations with a high-quality customer experience.
“Importantly, they are doing so with a clear sense of purpose – helping to modernise and improve an industry that has historically underserved consumers. We were particularly impressed by the strength and ambition of the team, and their vision to build a broader end-of-life planning platform.”