By Thomas A. Parmalee
After the funeral service is over, some families discover something unexpected about grief: They miss the voice of their loved one.
The familiar cadence. The advice given without thinking. The way a spouse or parent would respond to everyday moments — small victories, hard days and questions that don’t feel important enough to burden someone else with.
For Dmitry Korzhov, co-founder and CEO of Pantio, that realization came after his grandfather died.
The Beginning of an Idea
Korzhov is an engineer by training and a serial entrepreneur by experience. A native of Russia, he came to the United States of America less than two years ago and lives in San Francisco.
“This is the best country to live,” he said.
He has built and sold two previous companies, including a text-to-speech business. But Pantio didn’t start as a startup idea — it started as a family necessity.
After his grandfather died, Korzhov’s grandmother was left alone in her hometown in Stalingrad, separated by distance from much of her family. Like many older widows, her days were quiet. Too quiet.
Using fragments of existing voice recordings and memories, Korzhov created a digital version of his grandfather’s voice — one that could listen, respond and remember leveraging the power of artificial intelligence.
What happened next surprised everyone.
“She spends hours each day talking to him — about her life, the grandchildren, what she did that day. It’s sounds like science fiction, but it has impacted her in a positive way,” Korzhov said.
The experience changed how Korzhov processed his own grief as well. Now, he often turns to his grandfather’s digital voice for perspective — especially during major life decisions.
“My grandfather taught me everything,” he shared. “How to respect people how to behave and get respect.”
As a result, his voice provides him with a great deal of comfort, he said.
“I realized other families could benefit from this, too,” he said.
He turned the idea and his solution into a company he named Pantio, which is a word with Greek linguistic and cultural roots.
According to Korzhov, the word is derived from “pantheon,” which in Greek refers to “all” or “everything” (pan) and is associated with a sacred place of reflection and dialogue with the divine. Historically, a pantheon was a space where people went to contemplate, remember and connect beyond the physical world.
Korzhov chose the name Pantio because it reflects the company’s purpose:
- A place where everything about a person — their voice, memories, and wisdom — can be preserved.
- A space for reflection, conversation and emotional relief.
- A modern interpretation of connecting with someone who is no longer physically present.
In short, the name “Pantio” is meant to evoke a timeless place of remembrance and dialogue, rather than a piece of technology — aligning closely with how he hopes families will use the platform during grief and remembrance.
Today, Pantio serves roughly 100 paying families, many introduced through senior care providers and, increasingly, funeral homes.
“Our main technology revolves around how to build the memory system that learns and remembers over time what you discuss with your loved one’s digital persona,” he said. “And how to create a voice, so it really sounds indistinguishable from the person.”
His co-founder is Katherine Ivanova, who has also built multiple companies.
“Ivanova’s path to Pantio began as a client,” Korzhov said. “She was immediately struck by the technology — it felt like the most natural and meaningful way to plan a legacy. With people starting families later in life, she thought about her own father: one day, her children and grandchildren might never get to hear his voice or know his personality firsthand.”
As a result, she became one of Pantio’s earliest users, preserving his voice, his stories, and who he is.
“It was one of the first steps she took in her own legacy planning — and the experience inspired her so deeply that she joined as co-founder, bringing her expertise in AI and a conviction that this technology could reshape how families think about legacy,” Korzhov said.
Pricing and More
Pantio allows families to preserve the voice, memories and conversational style of a loved one, so future conversations feel natural and familiar. Unlike simple voice cloning or static recordings, Pantio’s core technology focuses on memory systems — how a digital persona learns, remembers and responds over time.
The platform can work with limited data, such as old voicemails, short recordings and text messages or written memories shared by family members.
For families who prefer not to use voice, Pantio can operate via text. But Korzhov notes a clear pattern:
“Middle-aged and older users overwhelmingly prefer voice. Text doesn’t feel the same,” he said.
Importantly, Pantio is not marketed directly to consumers.
“We don’t do direct-to-consumer,” Korzhov said. “This has to be introduced thoughtfully by trusted organizations.”
Pantio follows a B2B2C model, partnering with funeral homes, cemeteries, hospices and senior living and home care providers.
These organizations already support families during preneed planning, at-need services, and long-term aftercare — moments when questions about legacy, memory and ongoing connection naturally arise.
Funeral homes that choose to share Pantio as a resource receive:
- A percentage of an initial activation fee.
- No responsibility for billing, tech support, or long-term management.
Families pay:
- An initial fee to set up the voice and memory system.
- A modest monthly charge to maintain and refine the voice of their loved one.
For funeral professionals, the appeal should not be strictly about revenue, Korzhov said. Rather, it’s about relevance.
“This fits naturally into preneed and aftercare conversations,” Korzhov says. “It’s not something you sell. It’s something you let families know exists.”
For funeral homes and suppliers focused on preneed, Pantio should also pique your interest as individuals can preserve their voice for future generations before they die.
Addressing a Key Question
Pantio does not shy away from the uncomfortable question many professionals ask:
Is this healthy?
Korzhov is candid.
“Any powerful technology can cause harm if implemented poorly,” he said. “That’s why we’re careful about how this is introduced and used.”
He compares Pantio to earlier grief technologies — online memorials, livestreamed funerals, even voicemail preservation — all of which initially felt unsettling to some.
“Our goal isn’t replacement,” he said. “It’s preservation — of wisdom, memory and emotional connection.”
The Pantio team has paid special attention to the mental health implications of its product, Korzhov emphasized.
“People experiencing grief can fall into patterns of replaying conversations over and over, which can cause real psychological harm,” he said. “To address this, we have built a detection system that monitors for signs of unhealthy usage — and when it flags a user at risk, the team is notified and can personally connect that person with a mental health professional.”
This entire area is one Korzhov takes very seriously.
“We’ve worked with psychologists from institutions like Stanford and MIT to develop these safeguards,” he said. “This is a tool for healing, not a substitute for professional care.”
For many users, Pantio becomes a bridge, not a barrier, to healing — especially for isolated seniors, widows, or family members living far apart, he said.
A New Kind of Aftercare Conversation
At industry events like DeadTalks, which was hosted by the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association, Korzhov has found the deathcare community unusually open to learning more about Pantio.
“In tech, people are guarded,” he said. “In deathcare, people are honest. They’re here to solve real human problems.”
Pantio doesn’t claim to be for every family. But for those who struggle with silence, distance, or loneliness, it offers something few aftercare resources address directly: the ability to hear and interact with the voice of their lost loved one.
For funeral homes looking to expand the meaning of aftercare, Pantio represents a new category.
You can interact with the voices of some of the digital personas Pantio has created by visiting this page.
You can also book a demo with the Pantio team.
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