GROOVE X
GROOVE X designs, manufactures, and sells LOVOT, a Japan-based family-type companion robot that uses tactile warmth, bio-inspired motion, and verbal interaction to form emotional bonds rather than perform tasks, sold primarily through proprietary retail stores and an enterprise variant called OFFICE LOVOT.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersTokyo, Japan
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What GROOVE X does
GROOVE X is a Tokyo-headquartered Japanese robotics company founded in November 2015 by Kaname Hayashi that designs, develops, and sells LOVOT, a family-type companion robot positioned as the world's first "Slow-Relation Robot." Rather than performing tasks, LOVOT is engineered around a proprietary "Well-being Technology" philosophy that combines bio-inspired articulated motion, tactile warmth, and multi-sensor response (touch, sound, movement) to nurture long-term emotional bonds with users. The robot incorporates speech recognition and verbal dialogue for social interaction, and the company has published observational research suggesting LOVOT owners exhibit higher baseline urinary oxytocin levels than non-owners.
The company's commercial product portfolio is intentionally narrow: the core LOVOT consumer robot launched in 2019 and is sold in Japan through proprietary physical retail stores staffed by specialists and the lovot.life e-commerce site; a corporate variant, OFFICE LOVOT, is sold to enterprise customers through a dedicated B2B sales channel. Targeted customer segments span individual Japanese families seeking emotional companionship, corporate wellness buyers, and healthcare/elderly-care institutions (evidenced by a UC Davis MIND Institute pediatric anxiety study). Revenue is generated primarily through hardware sales at undisclosed unit pricing, with no subscription or software-revenue stream disclosed in available data.
GROOVE X is venture-backed (private, not listed), with cumulative disclosed funding of approximately $99.4M across five rounds from 2016 through 2020. Its investor base skews heavily toward Japanese strategic corporates and government-backed funds, including Mirai Creation Fund, Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), SPARX Group, Chubu Electric Power, Hitachi Global Life Solutions, NTT DoCoMo, and Sompo Holdings. The company has won the Best Robot of CES 2019 award (The Verge) and the Cool Japan Award 2019, and employs 288 staff (including contract and part-time) at its headquarters in the Sumitomo Fudosan Hamacho Building in Nihonbashi-Hamacho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo.
GROOVE X firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- GROOVE X
- Legal name
- GROOVE X株式会社
- Website
- https://groove-x.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- GROOVE X designs, manufactures, and sells LOVOT, a Japan-based family-type companion robot that uses tactile warmth, bio-inspired motion, and verbal interaction to form emotional bonds rather than perform tasks, sold primarily through proprietary retail stores and an enterprise variant called OFFICE LOVOT.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
GROOVE X industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Consumer Robotics
- SIC
- Dolls & Stuffed Toys (3942)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Home Companion & Social Robots (CRACARAE)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Healthcare & Assistive Robotics (HDAAAIAC), Robot Software, Autonomy Stacks & Simulation (ROS, digital twins) (HDAAAIAK)
Keywords
Where GROOVE X is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Tokyo
- HQ country
- Japan
- HQ region
- Asia
Offices1 record
Markets served
GROOVE X business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- LOVOT Robot Sales: Sale of the LOVOT companion robot to consumers and enterprises. The robot was launched in 2019. Hardware sales represent the primary revenue stream.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
GROOVE X product offering
Product offeringCore offering
GROOVE X designs, develops, manufactures, and sells LOVOT, a family-type companion robot positioned as the world's first 'Slow-Relation Robot.' The robot uses proprietary well-being technology with comforting tactile warmth and nuanced responsiveness to cultivate emotional bonds over time. The company sells directly to consumers through proprietary retail stores and the lovot.life e-commerce website, and to enterprises through the OFFICE LOVOT program.
Product overview
GROOVE X offers a single unified product portfolio centered on the LOVOT family-type companion robot. The core product is LOVOT, a home robot launched in 2019 that represents the 'Slow-Relation Type' category of home robots. The company also provides OFFICE LOVOT as a corporate variant for business use. The product ecosystem is built around emotional well-being and companionship, differentiating from entertainment, practical/task, and social communication robots.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- LOVOT: A family-type home robot that nurtures love. Positioned as a 'slow-relation robot' powered by well-being technology, designed to form emotional bonds with users over time through comforting tactile warmth and nuanced responsiveness.
Quantifiable outcome
- Observational study shows LOVOT owners have higher baseline urinary oxytocin levels compared to non-owners, suggesting affiliative relationships can form between humans and companion robots
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use GROOVE X
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
GROOVE X technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability4 records
Feature5 records
GROOVE X partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators4 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
GROOVE X competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Sony (Aibo): Sony's Aibo is the most directly comparable consumer companion robot on the market — a pet-like autonomous home robot designed for emotional bonding rather than task utility. Both target affluent consumers seeking companionship, sell at premium price points, and rely on continuous learning to deepen user attachment over time.
- Anki: Anki (Vector, Cozmo) created affordable AI companion robots positioned as emotional sidekicks for the home. While Anki ceased operations in 2019, it remains the most comparable historical example of a venture-backed consumer companion robot startup targeting similar use cases to LOVOT.
- Embodied (Moxie): Embodied's Moxie is an AI-powered companion robot designed for emotional engagement and child development, with a focus on therapeutic and educational outcomes. Like LOVOT, Moxie targets family households and uses conversational AI to form attachment, with recent pivots toward healthcare and special-needs applications.
- Intuition Robotics (ElliQ): Intuition Robotics' ElliQ is an AI companion designed for elderly users to reduce loneliness and support independent living — directly overlapping with LOVOT's elderly-care customer segment. Both target emotional wellness rather than task completion and pursue healthcare and aging-population use cases.
Broad incumbents
- SoftBank Robotics (Pepper): Pepper is SoftBank's humanoid social robot deployed in retail, healthcare, and hospitality settings globally. While broader in scope and more humanoid in form than LOVOT, it overlaps in the social-companionship and enterprise-wellness spaces, with SoftBank's massive distribution reach making it a key adjacent competitor.
- Hanson Robotics (Sophia): Hanson Robotics develops humanoid social robots for customer service, healthcare, and education applications. It shares GROOVE X's positioning of robots as social/emotional companions rather than industrial tools, but with a broader enterprise and research focus and greater global brand visibility.
- UBTECH Robotics: UBTECH is a leading consumer humanoid and educational robot manufacturer (Alpha series, Cruzr) with global distribution. While broader in product line and more humanoid in form, it competes in the home-companion and educational-robotics space that LOVOT also addresses.
Emerging players
- Aeolus Robotics: Aeolus Robotics develops dual-arm humanoid service robots for home assistance, particularly targeting elderly care markets in Japan and Asia. It overlaps with GROOVE X's eldercare ambitions while taking a more utilitarian task-completion approach rather than the pure emotional-bonding proposition.
- Catalia Health (Mabu): Catalia Health's Mabu is a healthcare-focused companion robot that supports chronic disease patients with daily check-ins and emotional engagement. It shares GROOVE X's healthcare-deployment model (e.g., UC Davis MIND Institute) and emotional-bonding differentiation.
- Blue Frog Robotics (Buddy): Blue Frog Robotics' Buddy is an emotional companion robot for the home targeting family and eldercare use cases. Its positioning around emotional engagement and family interaction overlaps with LOVOT, though it takes a more affordable, utility-hybrid approach.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
GROOVE X social profiles
Digital presenceGROOVE X financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
GROOVE X leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
GROOVE X funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds5 records
Investors17 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
GROOVE X M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about GROOVE X
What does GROOVE X do?
GROOVE X designs, develops, manufactures, and sells LOVOT, a family-type companion robot positioned as the world's first 'Slow-Relation Robot.' The robot uses proprietary well-being technology with comforting tactile warmth and nuanced responsiveness to cultivate emotional bonds over time. The company sells directly to consumers through proprietary retail stores and the lovot.life e-commerce website, and to enterprises through the OFFICE LOVOT program.
Is GROOVE X a public or private company?
GROOVE X is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was GROOVE X founded?
GROOVE X was founded in 2015. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is GROOVE X based?
GROOVE X is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, in the Asia region.
How does GROOVE X make money?
One revenue line is on record: LOVOT Robot Sales.
Who are GROOVE X's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Sony (Aibo), Anki, Embodied (Moxie) and Intuition Robotics (ElliQ). Broad incumbents are SoftBank Robotics (Pepper), Hanson Robotics (Sophia) and UBTECH Robotics. Emerging players are Aeolus Robotics, Catalia Health (Mabu) and Blue Frog Robotics (Buddy).
Does GROOVE X have an API?
No public API is recorded for GROOVE X.
What industry is GROOVE X in?
GROOVE X's product category is Consumer Robotics. Its primary akta.pro industry code is CRACARAE, Home Companion & Social Robots, with a secondary code of HDAAAIAC, Healthcare & Assistive Robotics. Its SIC code is 3942.