Breaking• Andromeda closes $23M Series A led by Forerunner• Abi speaks 90+ languages• ~$100M valuation• Melbourne to San Francisco• Scaling to 100 robots a month• Mission: zero loneliness• Breaking• Andromeda closes $23M Series A led by Forerunner• Abi speaks 90+ languages• ~$100M valuation• Melbourne to San Francisco• Scaling to 100 robots a month• Mission: zero loneliness•

Company Profile — Robotics / Aged Care

Melbourne & San Francisco Founded 2022 ~80 Employees Series A

Andromeda Robotics

The company building Abi — a colourful humanoid companion robot that sits beside seniors, remembers their stories, and works to solve one of aged care's quietest problems: loneliness.

ABI, THE COMPANION. Andromeda's humanoid robot was designed with a friendly, animated face on purpose - a cartoon look lowers the guard that a cold machine raises. It began as founder Grace Brown's lockdown passion project. — Image: Andromeda Robotics

Humanoid Conversational AI Companion Robot Elder Care Zero Loneliness Subscription

The Story

A robot built to be remembered - and to remember you

Andromeda Robotics makes companion robots for aged care. Its product, Abi, is a roughly four-to-five-foot humanoid in orange and purple that holds real conversations, recognises faces, and recalls what a resident told it days or months ago. It does not lift, feed, or medicate. Its job is company - the part of care that technology usually ignores.

The company was founded in Melbourne in 2022 by Grace Brown, who had been building robots since she was 15. The idea for Abi arrived during COVID-19 lockdowns, when Brown - then a university student - built an early prototype to cope with isolation. She gave it a personality inspired by the Disney characters she grew up with. What started as a way to feel less alone became a bet that others, especially older adults in care, needed the same thing.

Abi runs on conversational AI and can speak more than 90 languages. It reads micro-expressions and vocal tone, adapts its personality to each resident, and leads group activities - tai chi, dancing, meditation, quizzes - alongside one-on-one chats. Care staff describe it slotting into daily life rather than disrupting it. The pitch is deliberately narrow: Abi is not a replacement for carers, but a tool that gives them back time for the hands-on work only humans can do.

The Problem

Loneliness is the gap between staff and beds

Aged care is chronically understaffed, and the shortfall shows up first in the moments that are not clinical - conversation, engagement, being noticed. Residents who withdraw are hard to reach, and high staff turnover breaks the thread of who-remembers-what. That continuity gap is exactly what Abi is designed to fill.

The market behind that problem is enormous. The global aged care sector is worth over a trillion dollars a year, and the United States alone has more than 15,000 nursing facilities and roughly 1.4 million beds. Most innovation dollars flow into beds, medication and paperwork. Andromeda pointed its engineering somewhere less funded: whether the person in the bed feels seen.

Products & Services

What Abi does

Conversation90+ languages via ChatGPT-powered conversational AI, one-on-one or in groups.
MemoryRecalls past interactions from days or months ago and picks the thread back up.
RecognitionFacial recognition plus reading of micro-expressions and vocal tone.
PersonalityAdapts its character to each resident's abilities and preferences.
ActivitiesLeads tai chi, dancing, meditation and quizzes for whole rooms.
Team supportWorks beside carers to lift capacity, not replace staff.

Figures on height (reported between four and five feet) and funding totals vary slightly across public sources; the numbers above reflect the most consistently reported values.

How It Works

Business model & expertise

Subscription, not sale

Andromeda deploys Abi to aged care and assisted living operators on a recurring rental/subscription basis, earning revenue from paying, renewing facility customers rather than one-off hardware sales.

Deep-tech roots

Mechatronics engineering at the core - a founder who has built robots since 15, paired with conversational AI, computer vision and character-driven product design.

Augment, don't replace

The product philosophy is deliberate: Abi handles companionship and group engagement so human carers keep the hands-on work. That framing is central to how care homes adopt it.

Where It Fits

How Andromeda is different

The companion-robot field includes therapeutic devices like PARO (the robotic seal), tabletop assistants like ElliQ, and general humanoids like SoftBank's Pepper. Abi's wager is that a full-height, expressive, memory-driven personality - one residents actually want to talk to - earns a place in the "circle of care" that a gadget cannot. The animated, cartoon-like design isn't decoration; it's the adoption strategy.

Conversational range (90+ languages)High

Long-term memory & personalisationHigh

Care-team integrationStrong

Illustrative positioning based on public product descriptions, not benchmarked test data.

Who Uses It

Inside the care homes

Abi has been deployed across roughly 15 to 20 care homes, starting in the Melbourne area, with named operators including not-for-profit provider mecwacare and Medical & Aged Care Group (MACG). In 2025 the company expanded into the US market and set up a San Francisco headquarters to reach America's much larger pool of facilities.

mecwacare

“Abi provides social connection, conversation, and fun - becoming an important part of our circle of care.” ANNE McCORMACK, CEO

MACG

“Abi's personality builds connection and we're seeing residents' moods and engagement levels lift.” CAMERON McPHERSON, CEO

Funding & Backers

The money behind the mission

In September 2025 Andromeda closed a $23M Series A led by US firm Forerunner - reported as the largest Series A led by a woman in Australia that year, with much of the capital coming from female investors. The round valued the company at around $100M and funds a manufacturing push toward 100 Abi units a month, plus the US expansion.

Series A

$23M — Sept 2025. Led by Forerunner. Participants: Rethink Impact, Artesian, Main Sequence, Visible Ventures, Trampoline, Purpose Ventures, Startmate.

Valuation

~$100M. Set at the Series A. Total capital raised across rounds is reported at roughly $17M+ to date.

Use of funds

Scale & expand. Build Abi at volume (target: 100/month) and grow the US footprint from a San Francisco base.

Timeline

From lockdown to launch

2020

The seed of an idea

During COVID-19 lockdowns, student Grace Brown builds an early companion-robot prototype to cope with isolation.

2022

Andromeda Robotics founded

Brown, then 22, launches the company in Melbourne to commercialise Abi.

2024

First care home deployments

Abi rolls out across Melbourne-area care homes with operators including mecwacare and MACG.

2025

US expansion & $23M Series A

The company opens a San Francisco HQ, launches Abi in the US, and raises a $23M Series A at a ~$100M valuation.

Watch & Listen

See Abi in action

Andromeda publishes demos and interviews on its channel. Explore video coverage of Abi and founder Grace Brown:

YouTube Channel ▶ Abi Product Demos ▶ @abi_humanoid ▶

FAQ

Questions people ask

What is Abi?

Abi is Andromeda Robotics' humanoid companion robot for aged care. It holds conversations in 90+ languages, remembers residents across visits, and runs group activities to reduce loneliness and support care teams.

Does Abi replace human carers?

No. Andromeda positions Abi as a tool that works alongside care staff - handling companionship and group engagement so carers have more capacity for hands-on care.

Who founded Andromeda Robotics and when?

It was founded in 2022 in Melbourne by Grace Brown (Founder & CEO), who began building robots at age 15, with co-founder Yan Chen.

How much has Andromeda raised?

The company raised a $23M Series A in September 2025 led by Forerunner, at a reported ~$100M valuation. Total capital raised to date is reported at roughly $17M or more across sources.

Where is Abi being used?

Abi has been deployed across roughly 15 to 20 care homes, starting in the Melbourne area, with the company now expanding into the US market from a San Francisco headquarters.

Connect

Find Andromeda

Website ↗ LinkedIn ↗ Instagram ↗ YouTube ↗ Grace Brown ↗ Email ↗

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Sources: Andromeda Robotics, Forbes Australia, Capital Brief, Startup Daily, MassRobotics, Women's Agenda, Pulse 2.0. Figures reflect the most consistently reported public values as of mid-2026 and may be approximate.