Lemons in the room

Lemons in the Room is a Florence-founded company that develops an immersive virtual reality therapy used in clinical settings to reduce anxiety and discomfort in patients during treatments and waiting periods. Staff hand a headset to the patient, select a pathway and start a session within seconds without altering the clinical routine; the company describes installation as requiring no changes to hospital infrastructure and provides initial training and ongoing support to departments adopting it.

The content library is organised around guided breathing, nature soundscapes, narrative experiences and cognitive training, with sequences designed to slow breathing and shift attention away from the clinical context. Two product lines are offered: Lemo, aimed at adults with a focus on calm, breathing and distress reduction, and Lemo Park, designed for children with more active engagement. The company positions the system as scientifically validated and as a medical device, and has begun an MDR Class I regulatory path in Europe. An earlier project, Lemovie, was built for oncology day-hospital patients undergoing chemotherapy infusions, offering filmed and 3D environments such as beaches, mountains and city tours; the company also applied VR to training radiotherapy technicians in Total Body Irradiation procedures.

Founding story

The idea originated in October 2023 during an innovation conference at Careggi hospital in Florence, where the founders were running training in critical hospital departments and the head of oncology expressed a wish for something aimed at patients rather than staff. The four founders — Niccolò Berni and Niccolò Cesareo-Santoro (management engineering), Alessandro Napoli (medicine) and Milo Zoppini (design and computer science) — met through university connections. The name combines the lemon, associated with freshness and innovation in a sector they saw as having little of it, with "in the room", referring to the room where patients receive chemotherapy and to the virtual room created by the headset.

Business model

The company supplies hospital departments and clinics with a VR therapy system together with guided implementation: initial staff training, ongoing support and materials to evaluate sustainable integration of VR into the department. It reports closing contracts with hospitals and upselling within facilities where it is already active, and is building a health economics framework covering cost reduction, workflow efficiency and system-level impact to support institutional purchasing; it cites Germany's DiGA reimbursement of EUR 541 per prescription for digital therapeutics as a target market model.

Traction

Lemovie entered the Careggi oncology department in September 2024, where three headsets were used in an experimental phase, and VR training was delivered to thirty radiotherapy technicians for Total Body Irradiation. By early 2026 the company reported two newly activated regions and 38 new hospitals entering the pipeline, a pilot launched at Palazzo della Salute (Gruppo San Donato), confirmed interest from Humanitas Rozzano for clinical validation, and over a year of deployment in pediatric hospitals. Reported outcome figures include a 57.2% reduction in perceived discomfort, a 68% reduction in perceived distress, a 64% increase in perceived relaxation and 92% willingness to integrate VR into clinical practice, with anxiety reduction of up to 50% cited from clinical studies.

Latest developments

In its February 2026 update the company reported activating two new regions with 38 hospitals in the pipeline, a pilot at Palazzo della Salute within Gruppo San Donato, confirmed interest from Humanitas Rozzano, a full redesign of its pediatric application with Links Foundation, team specialization in sound design, human-computer interface, 3D and animation and concept art, the start of an MDR Class I path, attendance at the health.tech Global Summit in Basel, EUR 200,000 secured in non-dilutive grants with EUR 300,000 more expected, and preparation of an angels round structured via SAFE.