Vanessa Lo was a registered nurse working in geriatrics when she witnessed some dementia patients talking to dolls. It wasn’t unusual—doll therapy is commonly used in geriatric long-term care—but what struck the 25-year-old was how well it worked to combat stress and loneliness in patients. “Having worked in tech and health tech and building systems, my first reaction was: what if we could make the doll talk back? I think that was the first gut instinct.” Along with her co-founder and CTO, Rohith Krishnamurthy, a mechanical engineer, Lo developed a two-part solution to create an intelligent companion doll—in the shape of stuffed animals or realistic dolls—that could engage a user/patient through conversation, music and storytelling. The model uses AI to talk to patients in real time, providing care and companionship to increasingly lonely populations. It’s paired with a provider-facing app that tracks emotional health and well-being, sending smart analytics to a patient’s care providers. Taking herself out of the cycle of burnout she was witnessing in long-term care facilities, Lo switched gears to go all in on developing the Sundae Doll. Boosted by support from agencies that fund aging technology, VanTech Med aims to raise pre-seed funding for human resource hiring and commercial manufacturing. =
In its first fiscal interim, the company generated $20,000 in revenue for its ongoing pilots in Canada and Japan, but VanTech Med aims to close their next fiscal with more than $600,00 in sales alone if the goal of selling 500 units ($550 each), plus a $30 monthly subscription for the collaborative app, is reached. The business has already scaled beyond its founders, too, working with robotics researchers, software developers and more.
What’s one leadership principle you live by?
“People will not always remember what you say or tell them, but they will always remember the way you made them feel. Always be kind, compassionate and meet people where they are at in life.”
See the full list of our 2026 30 Under 30 winners here.
