Innovation

Grievy is revolutionizing grief support through its technology-based approach. Using an app developed in-house, people who are grieving can receive both digital support and help from real people. The app begins with a short onboarding process that asks questions to understand how the person is grieving. Based on this input, the app then provides the right psychological support for the person, for example through online meetings, exercises, and regular reminders. As one of the founders emphasizes: “People grieve very differently, which is why personalized support is necessary.”

Grievy supports not only individuals, but also funeral homes. Funeral homes were often unable to provide proper grief counseling in the past, but with Grievy, they now have the opportunity to support the bereaved as well. As Aenis, one of the founders, explains: “Grief is one of the main reasons for developing depression.” By greatly reducing the threshold for the bereaved to seek help, as the grief support can take place entirely online, Grievy's innovation helps to address the often neglected issue of mental health SDG 3.

Grievy is currently only available in Germany, but due to its digital nature, it can be transferred to other countries to provide even more people with support during their grief. Grievy also helps to raise awareness of grief and depression as a public health issue in society rather than just an individual problem.

Inspiration

Grievy was born out of a deeply personal experience of co-founder Nele, a psychologist who lost her father at the age of 24. This profound loss became the core motivation to change how grief support is provided. In 2020, the founders met during their studies. While Nele was working on her PhD in psychology, Aenis Chebil and Daniel Bachmann were studying information systems. Daniel also experienced personal loss, having lost his mother at a young age, which fueled their shared commitment to developing a more accessible grief support solution.

As Aenis shared: “The personal grief experience and the lack of opportunities to get help, especially when you're young, was our main motivation.”

Current grief support systems present numerous barriers. Outside larger German cities, there’s a shortage of qualified professionals. Self-help groups exist, but typically start only twice a year and are closed, meaning anyone whose loss doesn’t align with that schedule is left without support. Additionally, many traditional grief support options are church-based, which doesn’t resonate with many younger people today.

To see how widespread the issue was, Nele conducted over 150 interviews with people affected by grief. The results confirmed that many others faced similar difficulties, validating the urgency of the problem.

Grievy aligns perfectly with the core value of accessibility. The founders are committed to lowering the barrier to mental health support, especially because grief is a leading cause of long-term mental health challenges. Their mission is to ensure everyone, regardless of time or location, can access meaningful support during times of loss.

Overall impact

As of the time that this story is written, May 2025, Grievy has around 20,000 users. Aenis and his co-founders have had many positive interactions with users about the impact Grievy has had on their lives. In fact, he explained that they receive direct messages on a daily basis with positive feedback about the impact Grievy had on users’ lives. Further, Grievy has put into place a Teams-Channel just for feedback as well as a WhatsApp and other online channels where users themselves can interact with each other and exchange stories as well as give support to one another.

One notable impact story that first came to Aenis’s mind was one of a user who was in one of Grievy’s feedback groups with whom they eventually got to know better via a zoom call. “She was in her mid-60s and suffered the loss of her mother. She initially declined any grief support and appeared to be fine, but that changed drastically later. After trying local support options, she chose the online option of Grievy and her life has changed for the better.” said Aenis.

For the future, Grievy remains ambitious with the goal of making a positive impact on users all over the world. Aenis believes there is no reason why in this digital age anyone in the world should not have access to personalized grief support. According to him, the first step would be to expand into the Nordic regions, as they are the most open to digitalization in the health sector.

Business benefit

Grievy has created a scalable and sustainable business model that aligns profit with purpose. By partnering with over 100 funeral homes, the company operates through a B2B2C model, allowing them to avoid the costly challenges of direct-to-consumer marketing. “It’s great because we don’t have to struggle with B2C marketing. We have yearly contracts with the funeral homes, and these contracts renew automatically.” shared the founder.

Funeral homes pay for access to Grievy’s digital platform, and the physical materials needed to share it with grieving families. Importantly, families using Grievy through a funeral home receive lifetime access free of charge, with only optional add-ons like online support groups incurring a small fee.

Grievy’s average user engagement is six to seven months, an indication of the platform’s ongoing relevance in users’ grieving process. This recurring usage supports the company’s recurring revenue model and long-term growth.

The company is also planning international expansion into culturally aligned markets like the UK. "We want to be everywhere in 20 years where we have cultural acceptance.” the founder explained.

Internally, Grievy’s team culture reflects its mission. Team members are selected not only for skills but also for empathy and personal experience with grief. “When people have experienced grief themselves, it’s way easier for them to have the motivation to support others.”

This human-centered leadership ensures both social impact and business resilience.

Social and environmental benefit

As explained, Aenis states that Grievy mainly supports SDG 3, as it contributes to the mental health well-being of individuals. It creates a positive impact on people’s lives and how they deal with with grief (example in above section). Central to Grievy is “The fact that every person grieves differently and that the “onboarding process” after the app download is key to customize the app to the needs of the individual.” Aenis is proud of Grievy’s progress until now, that includes the effective development of the app, the number of users that they have built up, as well as the huge community that has developed. He is also very proud to have the partnerships with the funeral homes. Finally, he is also proud to have received so much positive publicity and media attention, which ultimately provides credibility and leads to more people using Grievy as a grief support option.

Interview

Aenis Chebil, Co-Founder & COO