Dental care startup Smikes nets $23 mn from Alpha Wave, Sequoia, Chiratae

Smiles.ai has raised 23 million (around Rs 172 crore) in Series A funding led by Alpha Wave Incubation that is managed by Falcon Edge Capital

Dental care startup Smiles.ai has raised USD 23 million (around Rs 172 crore) in Series A funding led by Alpha Wave Incubation that is managed by Falcon Edge Capital, and with strong participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Chiratae Ventures.

The Bengaluru-based startup said the other investors in the round include MBX Capital, Wami Capital and angel investors - Peyush Bansal & Amit Chaudhary of Lenskart, Aakrit Vaish of Haptik, Revant Bhate of Mosaic Wellness, Miten Sampat of CRED, Sambhav Rakhyan of WTW.

Smiles.ai marks US-based healthcare focused fund, MBX Capital's first investment in the country, it added.

This funding comes within a year of the company raising a USD 1 million seed round co-led by Sequoia Capital India and Chiratae Ventures with participation from some angels and family offices.

Smiles.ai will deploy this funding for expanding its footprint nationally, strengthening the leadership team, and building innovative tech-driven dental care solutions, the startup founded in 2019 by Hitesh Kakrani and Jatin Kakrani said.

One of the primary focus areas of the company is innovative Invisible Aligner treatments which has emerged as the preferred technology over traditional braces for smile correction. Using remote monitoring via smartphone, backward integration of manufacturing aligner trays and a very experienced panel of orthodontists the deliver world-class quality Aligner treatment at Rs 35-50,000.

The dental care industry is projected to be a USD 15 billion opportunity by 2023 and is growing at 20 per cent annually.

However, 99 per cent of this accounts for individual-owned clinics, which often fall short on service quality and customer expectations, Dr Jatin Kakrani said. The funding will enable the company to cater to a larger user base in existing cities and expand its footprint across new cities in India Hitesh Karrani said. A significant amount of the fund will be invested in technology and to further strengthen the leadership team, he added.

With over 100 specialist doctors, Smiles serves over 3,000 patients and conducts 5,000 diagnoses every month, across Bangalore, Delhi NCR, Pune and Indore.