Making Patients Smile: Grin Closes $10M Seed To Scale Tele-Orthodontics

Grin, a digital orthodontic platform that connects patients with local orthodontists and dentists, closed on a new $10 million oversubscribed seed extension round to continue developing its technology.

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The New York-based company launched its app and an FDA-approved Grin Scope last year with a $4.3 million seed round. The Grin Scope is a medical device designed to retract the cheeks in order to allow a full view of a patient’s mouth. The platform provides remote monitoring tools in partnership with local doctors.

Triventures led the round and was joined by Procter & Gamble Oral Care and SpringRock Ventures. With the new round, Grin has raised a total of $14.3 million, according to Crunchbase data.

Grin CEO Adam Schulhof, D.M.D., told Crunchbase News he started the company in 2019 when many patients began coming in after trying orthodontic aligners, but not getting the results they hoped for.

“I began thinking about what we were missing with today’s consumers,” Schulhof said. “For some clients, it is more about convenience — they want something immediate and don’t want to come in every month.”

Investment attention

The orthodontics market is anticipated to reach nearly $10 billion by 2026, and venture capital investors have paid attention in the past year by funding the following:

• LightForce Orthodontics secured a $14 million Series B and is developing customizable 3D-printed braces;
• OrthoFX unveiled a new suite of clear dental aligner technologies aided by a $13 million Series A round; and
• Spain-based orthodontics company Impress raised a $5.8 million seed round to provide affordable, invisible orthodontics.

Orthodontics today are not what they used to be, thanks in part to companies such as SmileDirectClub, and others that appeal directly to consumers, with the aim of circumventing the doctor, Schulhof added.

Instead, Grin focuses on connecting the patient and the doctor around a product that changes the experience and brings value to the relationship. The company puts patients in an orthodontist’s chair for the initial visit and, depending on the case, the patient may only have to physically go into the office a handful of times throughout the course of care versus once a month, he said.

The app also documents each scan and doctor instructions, resulting in improved oral hygiene, he said.

“We’ve reduced the touchpoints, but increased the oversight,” Schulhof added. “With the scans, we can not only see how the teeth are moving, but can point out plaque and potential cavities. We give the patient the ability to be interactive with oral care and a link back to dentistry.”

Future growth

Grin went live with thousands of orthodontists sending out 3,000 scopes. Doctors pay a monthly prescription for the app and for the scope. It is now “seeing” thousands of patients and looking at more than 2,000 scans each week.

The new funding will enable the company to continue to grow — it is three states shy of being nationwide, Schulhof said. Grin is also bulking up its provider side so it can go live on the consumer side and be able to better match patients with doctors. It will also invest in technology, including remote monitoring, virtual consultations and other functionalities.

Meanwhile, Triventures General Partner Netalie Nadivi said in a statement that her firm looks for entrepreneurs innovating traditional industries.

“Grin has the expertise, understanding and talent to fundamentally reimagine how dentistry should be practiced,” she added. “With this oversubscribed financing, the company has the capital to scale its vision and accelerate traction.”

Feature photo of the Grin Scope courtesy of the company.
Blogroll illustration: Li-Anne Dias