Los Angeles-based robotics company Tombot has secured $6.1 million to further support its developing robotic pet product line, meant to bring comfort to future assisted living and nursing home residents and others living with dementia.

The funding will be used to add employees, finalize engineering and complete regulatory hurdles to prepare the company’s first robotic pets for distribution, co-founder and CEO Tom Stevens said, calling it a “milestone investment.” Tombot has more than 16,000 pre-order and waitlist customers, according to the company.

“Tombot is entering a high-demand, underserved market at the intersection of mental

health and assistive technology,” Stevens said. “Over 300 million seniors around the world with dementia and mild cognitive impairment are unable to care for a live animal at a time when they need the companionship of a pet more than ever. Millions of other individuals suffering from mental health adversities are in a similar predicament.”

Stevens established the company in 2017 after his own mother’s progressive dementia necessitated the rehoming of her beloved pet dog for safety reasons. Tombot’s flagship product, a puppy named Jennie, was designed specifically to treat the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia.

Jennie is meant to reduce the stress and loneliness often experienced by people living with dementia, much like a living pet. The robotic puppy was created with artistic design by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop and developed with the guidance of clinical experts, individuals living with dementia and their families, according to Tombot.

The funding round included new and existing investors and was led by Caduceus Capital Partners, a Nashville, TN-based team of healthcare investors with a primary emphasis on accelerating growth of early-stage digital health startups.

“We identified the growing need for robotic companions several years ago and believe the market is now on the brink of exponential expansion,” said Dave Vreeland, senior managing partner of the firm.

Among the products that Tombot will join in the market are Ageless Innovation’s Joy for All animatronic dogs and cats. Ageless Innovation was launched in 2018 by a group of former Hasbro employees who bought that company’s product line.

Some states began distributing robotic pets to curb the effects of social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. By June 2020, for instance, the Florida Department of Elder Affairs had distributed Joy for All companion pets to 375 socially isolated older adults living with dementia. And more than 1,100 New York older adults also received the robotic pets through a partnership with the Association on Aging in New York. And the Council on Aging-Southern California previously bought 200 robotic cats and dogs to distribute to residents of assisted living communities, focusing on those living in memory care units.