A new managing partner steps in to drive the platform's 2026 growth push
Pathpal Inc. has closed a growth equity investment and appointed the round's lead investor, Travis Allan of TA Group, as its managing partner.
The company, a platform that offers workplace grief and life-transition support, did not disclose the size of the deal.
Pathpal created the managing partner position to speed up its growth across North America and to lay the groundwork for expansion into other markets, according to the announcement.
Allan most recently ran Sentinel Dock & Door Solutions as chief executive, a national service platform he built with Trivest Partners through a series of acquisitions across Canada.
Negin Chelehmalzadeh founded Pathpal in 2024 and serves as its chief executive officer.
The company describes its product as a "grieftech" platform and pitches a proactive model of care, arguing that traditional employee assistance programs stay dormant until a worker reaches a crisis.
Pathpal said it embeds grief guidance, community and tools into organizations before that point.
The company builds its case on the workplace cost of unaddressed grief and mental strain.
Presenteeism, in which employees work at reduced capacity, costs US businesses as much as US$150bn a year, according to research cited by Harvard Business Review that Pathpal referenced in its announcement.
The company also pointed to a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that absenteeism costs US employers a further US$225.8bn each year, which brings the combined figure close to US$400bn.
In Canada, mental health-related absences drain an estimated $16.6bn in productivity annually, Pathpal said, while untreated mental health conditions cost the global economy roughly 12bn lost workdays a year.
Pathpal draws a distinction between grief and mental illness, describing grief as a normal response to loss that can develop into conditions such as prolonged grief disorder, anxiety or depression when left unsupported.
Its own data suggests roughly 50 percent of bereaved adults develop prolonged grief disorder after a sudden or traumatic loss, and as many as 58 percent report loneliness during major life transitions.
"I've spent my career helping founder-led companies scale operationally without losing what made them work in the first place," Allan said in the announcement.
Chelehmalzadeh said Pathpal exists "so no one has to hide their grief to do their job, and so care is available the moment someone needs it," and she credited Allan with the operational and growth expertise to guide the company's next phase.
Pathpal plans to expand across North America through 2026, deepening its enterprise and HR partnerships while scaling its round-the-clock platform, peer community and workplace education tools, according to the company.
It intends to pursue global expansion over the longer term.
