OTIS Dental

High-Tech Dental Products

Company Information

Website:

https://www.hellootis.com

Sector:

Dental Products & Services

Location:

San Francisco, CA

These days, professional investors are putting their money where your mouth is.

In 2017, venture capitalists invested $326 million into dental-related startups — a record-high. And since then, VCs have continued to set their sights on emerging companies in this market. For example:

• In April 2019, Candid, a teeth straightening startup, raised $63 million from investors including Greycroft, Bessemer, and e.ventures.

• Smile Direct Club, a subscription service for teeth aligners, raised funds from Kleiner Perkins, Spark Capital, and 3L Capital. The company went public in September 2019 and has a market cap of $4.5 billion.

• And Beam Dental, makers of a “smart” toothbrush, has raised nearly $100 million since 2012 from investors including Drive Capital, Kleiner Perkins, and Lewis & Clark Ventures.

OTIS Dental could be their next target. It’s a dental startup offering custom night guards. These guards are made with the same materials and methods used by traditional dentists, and cost 80% less than other custom devices.

Companies like Invisalign and Smile Direct Club sell products for corrective work. OTIS Dental’s guards, in contrast, are preventative. Here’s what that means:

Stress takes a painful and destructive toll on your teeth. In dentistry, this is called Bruxism — the clenching and grinding of teeth that mainly occurs during sleep.

Research shows that 85% to 90% of the general population exhibit symptoms of Bruxism, including 40 million cases in the U.S. alone. If left untreated, clenching and grinding can lead to serious issues such as:

• Tooth decay and fractures.

• Gum recession and sensitivity.

• Jaw clicking and popping.

• And permanent jaw joint damage.

Procedures to correct these issues have transformed dentistry into a $37 billion market.

One option to protect against Bruxism is night guards — mouth pieces that act as bumper guards in between a person’s teeth.

Currently, there are only two options to purchasing these guards:

• Over-the-counter guards, which are made from cheap materials, difficult to wear, and result in poor sleep.

• Custom-made guards, which are available only through a dentist, can be marked up by nearly $1,000, and are rarely covered by insurance.

Whichever option you choose, when the night guard eventually wears down, you have to repeat the process over again.

OTIS offers a third option: premium custom night guards at an affordable price.

Customers can acquire a night guard through a two-step process:

First, they use an OTIS Impression Kit to make a mold of their bite. This can be done from their home.

Second, using a prepaid envelope, users send in their impression. And in a few days, they receive their custom night guard in the mail.

OTIS sells its guards through subscriptions. Under this model, users are sent new guards every 4, 6, or 12 months.

Customers can make an initial wholesale purchase through retailers for $70, or a single initial purchase direct online for $100. Subscriptions cost $70 for a 4-month plan, $80 for a six-month plan, and $90 for a 12-month plan.

OTIS launched in 2017. In its first year, it validated the demand and affordability of its night guard through a Kickstarter campaign. It then continued this validation through a year-long clinical study with the University of California San Francisco and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical center.

Recently, OTIS achieved 20x annual revenue growth, and partnered with national retailers Walgreens and Target.

The company’s target customers are the 80 million “millennials” in the U.S. These consumers are proactive when it comes to their health, but have the highest rate of stress-related sleep disorders.

70% feel that poor sleep contributes to their mental health and stress levels, 59% say stress causes them to wake up tired, and 52% say they typically begin their work day already fatigued.

With funds raised, OTIS plans to expand its marketing efforts and begin prototyping a second version of its night guard. Long-term, it aims to launch additional oral health and beauty products, and establish brick and mortar locations.

Team Background

Rishi Gupta - Chief Dental Officer

Rishi is an expert in the oral surgery field.

He began his career as a resident physician in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. From there, he was a sleep surgeon and oral surgeon at the same school.

More recently, he was an Oral and Maxillofacial surgeon at the California Pacific Medical Center. He then held the same position with Song Oral Surgery.

For the past five years, he’s served as a section chief of Oral and Maxillofacial surgery with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Rishi holds a Doctorate of Medicine from the University of California, Davis, a Doctorate of Dental Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, and an MBA from the University of San Francisco.

Andrew Lee - Founder & CEO

Andrew has more than a decade of experience as a dental hygienist. He’s served at the University of California San Francisco School of Dentistry and his own private dental practice.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree from the California Institute of Integral Studies, an Associate’s degree in Dental Hygiene from Carrington College California, and an MBA in Healthcare Management.

Bryant Park - Chief Financial Officer

Bryant is a certified accountant with more than 10 years of startup experience.

He spent seven years as an accountant with iParq, an IT services company. After that, he was Director of Finance for SolSource Logistics, a supply chain company.

More recently, he was a managing partner with Launch CPA, an accounting service for small businesses.

Bryant studied Business Economics and Accounting at the University of California Santa Barbara.

Brendan Carberry - Advisor

Brendan has executive experience in the dental technology industry. Most notably, he spent six years with Align Technologies, makers of Invisalign, a popular teeth corrective device.

In addition to his time with Align, Brendan has startup experience in 3D dental printing and medical device markets. He earned a degree in Business Administration from California Lutheran University.

Co-Investors

Raising
$1.07 million
Committed
$127.548K (12%)
Current Valuation
$8 million Cap / 10% Discount
Min. Investment
$150
Deal Type
Title III
(For all investors)
Offering Type
SAFE
Finance History
Notable Investors
Learn more on Republic