East Lothian entrepreneur launches ‘death tech’ digital information vault

Hogan says the service can store various post-life wishes. Picture: Lucian Milasan - Fotolia.

The product, called Biscuit Tin, is aimed at helping people prepare for their death, giving family members peace of mind and minimal stress.

Founder and chief executive Sheila Hogan, a business architecture consultant and past president of the Association of Scottish Businesswomen, started the business following the death of her parents.

She saw a gap in the market for a way for people’s wishes to be captured and managed to ease the burden on their loved ones.

She says The Biscuit Tin is a secure digital response to the problem and can hold post-life wishes such as funeral arrangements, organ donation, guardianship of children and pets.

Hogan, who previously ran her own maintenance business for ten years, has secured Scottish Enterprise innovation grant funding and is currently on Business Gateway’s Growth Pipeline.

She said: “The company’s mission is to make death less taboo, and for it to be more socially acceptable to plan our own deaths, saving those left behind avoidable stress after we pass away by being able to access all crucial information, wishes, memories and instructions we’ve left behind.

“Our vision is for Biscuit Tin to become the UK’s most trusted digital legacy leader, with 5 per cent of UK digital savvy over 35-year-olds using a Biscuit Tin account within the next five years.”

During the set-up of a Biscuit Tin account, customers can choose nominees to be the executors of their digital vault, allowing access to all their data when it is needed.