(Photo: Memmorial)

When a netizen dies, what happens to his online body of work?

Many times websites of the deceased are shuttered by family members or slowly kicked down the Google index the longer they sit dormant. Defunct Facebook profiles are turned into online memorials for the dead, where people collect to share their memories and best wishes. Facebook even has a form you can fill out to "memorialize" a deceased person's profile.

Memmento, a new site that launched today, wants to transition memorials from Facebook onto its own death-dedicated platform. The results are as unsettling as you'd probably expect. The site is a virtual graveyard littered with photos, videos and memories of souls long gone. Users can choose to leave flowers or candles on the "official" pages of deceased stars like Donna Summer and Steve Jobs. They can also write notes and upload photos and videos.

Memmento isn't just for celebrities, though. Users can also create memorials for anyone in their life who has passed away. These memorials are free to make, and Memmento provides you with 100 complimentary credits you can use to purchase virtual flowers and candles. For non-creators who would like to leave a virtual gift, most cost $1 or $2.

"Today’s technology allows the preservation of a memory for eternity," reads a press release. "MEMMENTO offers a possibility to record the lives of your loved ones in a way that they will never be forgotten. MEMMENTO offers creation of an online memorial for free and guarantees that the memorial will stay accessible forever."

Thomas Zempliner, Memmento's founder, seems to think the site could all but replace regular visits to the cemetary. “People today in their busy lives rarely find the time to visit the cemetery because they spend more and more time by their computers, but the human need for remembering the departed loved ones remains," he said in the release.

Because the Internet has become an important medium for self-expression and discussion, it was inevitable that a place for online memorials would eventually crop up. We can see how it might be comforting for some, but the whole site has a macabre, voyeuristic quality to it--like you've walked in on a conversation you weren't meant to overhear.

In short, it made us really, really sad. Glance into the rabbit hole at your own risk while we crank up the Cat Power and search "comfort food" on Seamless.

Mown down by the markets

If you've been listening closely at tech parties and events over the last month, you could begin to hear the tectonic rumblings of a reckoning. The bubble in seed stage funding that saw hundreds of start-ups raise capital during 2010 is coming to an end. And many of the companies who raised less than $1 million are now running out of cash.

This morning we got an anonymous tip, since confirmed, that flash sales aggregator MyNines, which raised $750K back in April of 2010, has shut down. The company's website is currently offline. Founder Apar Kothari has been named vice president, head of business development and strategic partnerships at private sale shopping destination site Rue La La. (Sounds like that emerging talent pool we told you was coming.)

Without a doubt there are many young companies in New York who will survive. Firms like OnSwipe, SeatGeek and Yipit which have raised significant funds or found a healthy revenue stream can continue to build their business, although a severe economic downturn, as intimated by the plummeting stock market, will hurt all companies, tech and otherwise. But for many who were not around during the dot-com days (Betabeat included), this will be the first experience with death.

"Raise your money now" is the rallying cry. We heard it last night from Movable Ink CEO Vivek Sharma, who saw his first start-up, Blue Martini Software, go from a few employees to a public company worth billions. "One day the stock was trading over $70 and the six months later it was down below $6, then eventually below $1. The smart start-ups today have already raised their series A and those who haven't need to now. At this point, they are already going to have to accept much lower valuations, because the bargaining power is back with the VCs."

As USV Albert Wenger wrote earlier this week, get your paperwork done quick and that money in the bank because investors are thinking more about sovereign default than LinkedIn's stellar first quarterly report or the fact that your start-up got a dope review on TechCrunch. Time to break out those back issue of Fucked Company and start boning up on how to build a start-up for the bear market.

The email from founder Apar Kothari is below:

Dear Friends & Colleagues,

After an incredible two years chasing my dreams as CEO/Cofounder of MyNines, I'm thrilled to continue the next phase of my techfashion career as Head of New Business Development & Strategic Partnerships at Rue La La.

While MyNines embodied the perfect  blend of my passion for fashion & entrepreneurship, I didn’t have the resources to scale it. I’m super-excited to not only leverage the assets I acquired at MyNines, but also to work with a rockstar exec team at RLL. I’ve learned a ton & my deep experience in the flash sale/fashion world provides the optimal springboard to identify game-changing opportunities for RLL.

That said, I want to express my sincerest gratitude to those of you who followed  & supported me through MyNines – my amazing Advisory Board (Steve Hafner CEO of Kayak, Mark Menell CFO of Shoprunner (the GSIC family), Nick Pahade CEO of Traffiq (also previously from the GSIC family), Jack Kennedy EVP Ops at FOX, and Suzanne Norris, former VP Commerce at Kate Spade), Friends & Family, and my loyal team at MyNines. I couldn't have done it without you guys & can’t wait to find ways to work together in the future!

Can't let my Twitter followers down.

Dying in the digital age is tricky, as the dozens of accounts and services someone used while alive persist in cyberspace.  We've all heard the stories of Facebook and Twitter users haunted by recommendations they they connect with dead friends.

LifeEnsured, a New York startup with a $150,000 in angel funding (different kind of angel), is focused on carrying out the last rites and rituals a person might need to clean up the stray threads of their virtual life.

For example, LifeEnsured will scatter your digital photographs to the wind, taking images from a Flickr account and transferring them to Creative Commons. They can turn off dating profiles and leave a final status update on social networks. PayPal accounts get routed to the next of kin.

The company recently ran a big study on what most Americans want to happen to their digital presence when they're gone. They learned that around 40% of people have no idea, and also, people really don't want to be made in a DVD. They would prefer to share a final message by email or video,  and if they still haven't told that special someone that how they felt all along, leave a final bold blog post declaring their love.

Founder Mike Aiello got the idea while working in the life settlement business, buying up other people's insurance policies, paying the premiums and collecting the benefits when they died. Checking up on folks to see if they had kicked the bucket put him in touch with a lot of unfinished business online.

The mortality rates on startups isn't so hot, but not to worry, a portion of all revenues goes into a irrevocable trust fund to ensure users final wishes are carried out for some time.