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California-based robotics company Tombot has raised $6.1 million in Series A funding for its robot dog companion, Jennie. While Jennie may appear to be a toy, it is designed to provide companionship for elderly people who are no longer able to care for live pets.
Jennie is expected to ship in Q1 2026. It will sell for about $1,500.
The Jennie model is meant to comfort the elderly and more people
Co-founder and CEO Tom Stevens said he was inspired to bring Jennie to market by his experiences with his mother. After she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia, her dog/best friend/primary companion needed to be rehomed, which “…exacerbated her severe loneliness and depression,” he wrote on the Tombot website.
While Jennie was built specifically to provide comfort for seniors with Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD), Jennie fits with “a high-demand, underserved market at the intersection of mental health and assistive technology,” Stevens said in a press release.
Jennie was created with help from clinical experts, patients, and their families, and the artistic design was done by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.
While robot animals are not intended to replace human companionship, and some people may find the lifelike movements unsettling, a 2022 study by the University of Plymouth found robotic pets decreased depression, anxiety, delusions, and other conditions among residents in elder care facilities.
Realistic movements set Jennie apart from robot toys
Tombot was founded in 2017, and its robots have captured attention most lately at CES 2025. While the robot dog can’t stand up on its own and is designed to lie on a pillow, its head and body movements are intended to be as realistic as possible. Jennie will respond to touch, reacting differently to being pet gently or vigorously. Its head can turn, recorded puppy sounds will play, and it will respond to some voice commands.
The robotic dog is battery-operated and can plug into a wall socket when not in use. Caregivers can customize and monitor Jennie through a free mobile app.
“Jennie is an integration of many different components and subsystems, and much of our work is iterative,” Marissa Steingold, account executive at Tombot, said in an email to TechRepublic. “Mechanical engineering, electronics, power systems, and sensors are all complex and need to work perfectly …or Jennie won’t look/behave like a real dog! We have had to invent how pieces fit together in a complex puzzle – for example, the robust design of the neck.”
The $6.1 million investment will help get Jennie to customers sooner
The latest funding round, led by Caduceus Capital Partners, brought in $6.1 million. Tombot said the money will be used to expand its team, finalize the engineering of the robot, secure regulatory and safety certifications, and prepare for commercial distribution. (Tombot is also aiming for FDA approval.)
In addition, Jennie was slated for delivery in 2025; however, Stevens said in a Reddit AMA in December 2024 that “funding shortages and much increased technical complexity for our production version” delayed the release.
The injection of $6.1 million means Tombot will not need to pause or delay any more work to raise more capital, Steingold told TechRepublic.
More than 16,000 people have either pre-ordered Jennie or joined the waitlist, according to the company.
Read eWeek’s coverage about Amazon’s Vulcan robot with sense of touch, which is said to be a “fundamental leap forward in robotics.”