Prismm helps banks keep inherited money in-house

Key points

• Prismm helps banks keep inherited money in-house after an account holder dies.
• Founded in 2020 by sisters Martha Underwood and Shella Sylla.
• It builds beneficiary and estate planning into accounts from day one.

Prismm, a startup founded in 2020 by sisters Martha Underwood and Shella Sylla, is presenting its mission today on the Startup Battlefield stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. The company helps banks keep families' money in-house after an account holder dies by building beneficiary and estate planning into accounts from day one, making the transfer of assets to heirs less complicated.

The founders came up with the idea after their father was hospitalized in 2017 following a fall while helping clear a tree from a neighbor's roof after Hurricane Irma in Miami. Their mother, who had relied on him for finances and paperwork, did not know where important documents were, and neither did they. The experience stuck with them.

How Prismm works

With Prismm, account holders can give designated family members access to their accounts and documents ahead of time. When the account holder dies, the designated person can log in, see assets and documents in one place, and start eligible beneficiary transfers digitally. Because identity, consent, and supporting documents are already on file, the process can be completed remotely, even when family members live in different states.

The company has two central products, with a third in development. Prismm Designate lets banks offer customers a simple, digital way to update their own beneficiaries. Prismm Anchor gives account holders a secure place to track accounts, documents, property, and other assets across multiple institutions, with controlled access for designated people. Prismm Continuity, coming soon, will guide staff and families through the transfer process step by step.

We will be the infrastructure that financial institutions use to move money to the next generation, because we don’t only understand that you execute on the back end. We understand that you need to be proactive and build relationships with the next generation of consumers on the front end.

— Martha Underwood

Why banks need it

Underwood and Sylla describe Prismm as infrastructure that helps banks handle what happens when a customer dies. They say financial institutions lose billions in deposits to estate attrition every year, which is when heirs move inherited money to other institutions, because banks have no system for managing the transition of accounts after a death. Instead of losing those accounts, banks can use beneficiary information and simpler inheritance processes to keep assets, and potentially the next generation of customers, within their institution.

Underwood said in an interview with TechCrunch that the problem is an infrastructure one. She noted that platforms exist for wealth growth and tracking, but almost nothing for transition, and that the process is still very much all manual. She said Prismm integrates directly into bank cores to reduce friction.