Today when we look around, we see so many different types of startups and businesses operating. Including Toothsi, the honorable Prime Minister of the country has started the startup initiative which encourages young minds to come up with ideas, and the government helps in other stages of the startup formation. Every day, we see news of a startup receiving funding, a merger and acquisition happening, a takeover taking place. Toothsi is one such startup.
With the Make in India and with the motive to make India self-dependent, the startup culture is at the most in the country currently. The year 2020 has itself seen 20 unicorns being created, which is a highly appreciable topic to discuss. The golden “Unicorn Club” is a group of those startups that have a value of more than USD 1 billion.
A new piece of news of the funding has come up. The startup, Toothsi, as announced on August 06, 2021, has raised USD 20 million. This was the Series B round of funding and was led by Eight Road Ventures, which is a global investment firm backed by Fidelity, Think Investments, A San Francisco-based investment firm, and Mankekar Family Office.
The other participants of the round were the Vice President of Blackrock Asia, Vishal Agarwal, co-founders of Pharmeasy, Siddharth Shah, and Dharmil Sheth, co-founder of Livspace, Ramakant Sharma, and Indian Managing Director of Bain & Company, Karan Singh. The startup plans to use the funds raised in improving and expanding its technological infrastructure, strengthen its team, and continue its expansion geographically, in more cities of the country, thus building a brand.
About the startup
Founded by the orthodontists, Dr. Manjul Jain, Dr. Pravin Shetty, Dr. Arpi Mehta, and Dr. Anirudh Kale, Toothsi is a health and wellness platform. The Mumbai-based startup is a D2C aligner company that is engaged in providing the customers’ access to new age teeth straightening with invisible, 3D printed clear aligner technology, all this at the comfort of their homes.
Clear aligner technology has a huge market size of USD 5 billion. This technology is very popular in the US and Europe and people there prefer it over the traditional braces for smile correction. This trend is now becoming popular in India also. Before this round of funding, the startup has raised USD 5 million in January 2021, as a part of a Series A round of funding.
The 3-year-old startup is currently operating for more than 10,000 customers in eight cities. The startup has plans to serve more than 1 lakh customers this year.
What does the startup Toothsi say?
A statement made by the startup said that the company has seen amazing and praiseworthy transactions and its revenue has grown by 200% in the last six months.
Dr. Arpi Mehta, who is the co-founder and CEO of the startup said that Toothsi is a technology-enabled platform and has a panel of expert clinicians. She further said that the startup aims to combine the world-class orthodontic tradition and the most innovative technology with the vertically integrated business model and become a global go-to destination for a smile transformation. She further commented that the startup was grateful to the investors and partners for believing in the startup and its vision, and they look forward to constant support and guidance in the future.
What does the investor say?
Dr. Prem Pavoor who is a partner and India’s head at Eight Road Ventures made a statement that said that their partnership with Toothsi shows how much consumers are driven towards healthcare in a post-pandemic world. He further said that he and the organization are excited by the options clear aligners have to change the traditional orthodontic technologies and practices.
The startup has for sure bought something new and exciting in the market. Let us wait and watch what the future has in for the startup, and we just wish good luck and a bright future to the startup.
Edited by Aishwarya Ingle
