What Tinybots does

Tinybots is a Rotterdam-based, privately held Dutch company founded in 2015 that develops Tessa, a social care robot designed to support individuals with cognitive impairments such as dementia, Non-Congenital Brain Injury (NAH), and intellectual disabilities (VG). The product combines a hardware robot (available in Tessa Voice and Tessa Screen variants, the latter CE-marked under EU MDR) with a companion mobile/web app and a cloud-connected device management platform. Caregivers and care professionals configure Tessa through validated personal scripts and scheduled prompts; the robot then delivers proactive verbal reminders or responds to user commands, with integration into Dutch Electronic Client Dossier systems (ONS-NEDAP, PUUR-Ecare, Adapta). Multi-language support includes Dutch and Turkish.

Tinybots monetizes primarily through Tessa-as-a-Service, a subscription model that bundles the hardware, software, implementation support, and ongoing coaching for healthcare organizations, alongside professional services such as Tessa Expert on-site deployment. The customer base consists of Dutch home-care, elderly-care, and disability-care providers (zorgaanbieders); in many cases Tessa is reimbursed by Dutch health insurers, making out-of-pocket cost to end users effectively zero. Distribution combines direct enterprise sales with a regional Tessa Expert partner network that handles in-home implementation.

At the time of analysis, Tinybots supported over 175 care organizations and 8,162+ individuals, with 528,714+ cumulative care days and 2,211,344+ care moments logged. The company holds endorsements from Zorgverzekeraars Nederland, Zorginstituut Nederland, and VGZ, and is recognized by Vilans, ActiZ, and VitaValley. The team is small (approximately 20 employees across engineering, operations, implementation, design, and customer support), and the only disclosed institutional funding is a 2016 Rockstart accelerator participation.

Name

Tinybots

Legal name

Tinybots

Website

https://tinybots.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Tinybots develops Tessa, a social care robot and software platform that delivers scripted verbal guidance to people with cognitive impairments such as dementia, deployed via Tessa-as-a-Service to Dutch home-care, elderly-care, and disability-care providers, and frequently reimbursed by Dutch health insurers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Care Robotics

NAICS

Home Health Care Services (621610), Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities (62412)

SIC

Services-Home Health Care Services (8082), Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090)

akta.pro primary industry

Healthcare & Assistive Robotics (HDAAAIAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Home Companion & Social Robots (CRACARAE)

Keywords

• Social care robotics
• Dementia care technology
• Elderly care automation
• Cognitive support robots
• Healthcare robotics

Headquarters

HQ city

Rotterdam

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Tessa-as-a-Service (Hardware + Subscription): Tinybots provides Tessa as a service model to healthcare organizations. In many cases, Tessa is reimbursed by the healthcare provider or health insurer. The model includes hardware (the robot), software (app, cloud platform), implementation support, and ongoing service. Organizations can scale from pilot to full deployment.
2. Hardware Sales: The Tessa robot itself is a physical product (hardware) that is delivered as part of the service. Tessa Voice and Tessa Screen variants exist.
3. Implementation and Support Services: Tinybots provides implementation support including client selection workshops, intervision sessions, training for care teams, and ongoing coaching. This is bundled into the Tessa-as-a-Service offering.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Tinybots develops and sells Tessa, a social care robot that provides AI-driven verbal guidance and reminders to people with cognitive impairments (dementia, NAH, VG) to help them live more independently at home. The company offers Tessa as a service to healthcare organizations in the Netherlands, bundling the Tessa robot hardware (Voice and Screen variants), a companion app, on-site implementation by Tessa Experts, and ongoing coaching, with Tessa frequently reimbursed by Dutch health insurers.

Product overview

Tinybots offers a portfolio centered on Tessa, a social care robot for individuals with cognitive impairments. The portfolio includes two robot variants — Tessa Voice (audio-only) and Tessa Screen (audio plus visual display) — along with a companion Tessa App for configuration and monitoring, and a Tessa Expert Implementation Service for on-site deployment. The products work as a unified system: the Tessa App enables caregivers and family members to create personalized verbal scripts and schedules, which the robot then delivers proactively or on demand. Tessa-as-a-Service bundles the hardware with implementation support, adoption coaching, and business reporting for care organizations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Tessa Social Care Robot A social care robot designed to support individuals with cognitive impairments (dementia, NAH, VG) by providing AI-driven verbal guidance, reminders, and structured daily prompts. Available in Voice and Screen variants, Tessa increases self-reliance, autonomy, and quality of life for users while reducing the need for professional care hours.
• Tessa Screen A Tessa variant featuring a screen display alongside verbal interaction, providing visual and auditory cues to support users with cognitive impairments. Tessa Screen carries CE marking under EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR) and ships with an EU Declaration of Conformity.
• Tessa App A companion mobile and web application used by caregivers, care professionals, and family members to configure Tessa, schedule reminders, create and personalize scripts, and monitor interactions. Enables multi-user collaboration through individual accounts.
• Tessa Expert Implementation Service An on-site implementation service where trained Tessa Experts visit clients at home to deploy the robot, configure personalized scripts with clients and caregivers, and train family members and care staff on usage. Operates regionally through a partner network.

Quantifiable outcome

• Clients need 4 to 8 hours less physical care per month
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability3 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• ONS-NEDAP HealthcarecoreTechnology or IntegrationONS-NEDAP Healthcare is an Electronic Client Dossier (ECD) system widely used in Dutch home care. Tinybots integrated Tessa with ONS-NEDAP, enabling the first live check-in/check-out functionality. Stichting Land van Horne was the first to go live with this integration, allowing care moments to be recorded automatically within Tessa's workflow.
• PUUR-EcarecoreTechnology or IntegrationPUUR-Ecare is an Electronic Client Dossier (ECD) system. Tessa integrates with PUUR-Ecare as part of its workflow integration strategy, enabling seamless data sharing and care moment recording within existing care management systems.
• AdaptacoreTechnology or IntegrationAdapta is an ECD system that integrates with Tessa, allowing care organizations using Adapta to manage Tessa within their existing care documentation workflows.
• VitaValleysupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerVitaValley assembled a start package for Tessa containing relevant research, interviews, and webinars about deploying care robots. This package is designed to help both starting and advanced care providers get started with Tessa more quickly.
• Omaha System SupportsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerOmaha System Support created a decision tree for proven care technology, including Tessa. The decision tree maps which care technology can address which care questions based on the Omaha classification system, with Tessa shown to address on average 3 care domains simultaneously.
• Vilans and ActiZsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerVilans (knowledge institute for long-term care) and ActiZ (organization for healthcare providers) provided an overview of the state of AI in elderly care, including Tessa as an example of AI in practice in Dutch elderly care.
• Coöperatie VGZsupportingOthersVGZ is a Dutch health insurer cooperative that conducted research on Tessa's effectiveness and published findings as a 'Good Practice' example. VGZ's research confirmed Tessa's cost-effectiveness and value in home care settings for people with cognitive impairments.
• Academy het DorpsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademy het Dorp conducts research on Tessa in disability care (gehandicaptenzorg), expanding the evidence base beyond elderly care to include people with cognitive impairments in disability care settings.
• Fontys HogeschoolsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerFontys University of Applied Sciences has conducted research on Tessa's effectiveness in home care, contributing to the academic evidence base for the technology's value in dementia care.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Care.coach: US-based company providing avatar-based陪伴陪伴 services combining AI and human health advocates for older adults and high-need patients. Comparable in delivering conversational companionship for complex care populations and operating in a healthcare-reimbursed model.
• Blue Frog Robotics: French developer of Buddy, a social companion robot for home and elder care. Comparable in targeting elderly users with conversational and social interaction, though positioned more as a multi-purpose home companion than a clinically-validated care tool.
• Intuition Robotics: Israel-based developer of ElliQ, an AI-powered social companion robot aimed at older adults living independently. Directly comparable to Tinybots in product category (social companion robot), target user (elderly living at home), and business model (subscription-based).
• Catalia Health: US-based health company developing Mabu, a social robot for patient engagement and chronic disease management. Comparable in deploying a companion robot for healthcare delivery with bidirectional verbal interaction, though focused on chronic conditions rather than cognitive impairment.
• Pria by Stanley Black & Decker: Voice-enabled medication reminder and health companion device by Stanley Black & Decker, targeting independent older adults and chronic care patients. Overlaps with Tessa in medication reminders and structured daily support, though Pria is positioned as a consumer health device rather than a clinically-validated care robot.

Emerging players

• Aeolus Robotics: Japan-based developer of humanoid service robots for elder care and home assistance. Comparable as a competing humanoid/social robot targeting elderly care, with broader ambitions but earlier commercial deployment than Tinybots in dementia-specific care.
• LuxAI: Luxembourg-based creator of QTrobot, a socially assistive robot primarily for autism therapy and special needs education. Adjacent to Tinybots in the assistive social robotics space and targeting cognitive/developmental support populations, though focused on autism therapy rather than elderly dementia.
• Sensely: US/UK-based developer of virtual nurse avatars for patient monitoring, symptom checking, and chronic disease management. Adjacent in conversational AI for healthcare delivery and chronic care support, though delivered as an app/avatar rather than a physical robot.
• Furhat Robotics: Swedish social robotics platform providing customizable expressive robot heads for healthcare, research, and education. Comparable in developing social robot technology for healthcare use cases, including dementia and therapeutic applications, though as a platform rather than a deployed care product.

Broad incumbents

• Robosoft (Aldebaran/SoftBank related): SoftBank Robotics develops Pepper and NAO, humanoid social robots deployed in healthcare, retail, and hospitality globally. Comparable in social robotics for care and customer interaction but as a broad incumbent with much larger scale and a more general-purpose product portfolio than Tessa's focused dementia positioning.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/TinybotsNL
• Facebookfacebook.com/tinybotsNL

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tinybots