CareStack, a cloud-based management tool for the dental industry, landed $28 million in new funding this morning. The latest round was led by Steadview Capital and Delta Dental of California.
This news comes roughly a year after the dental-focused startup announced a $16 million raise to open a new technology development office in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
WHAT THEY DO
The company focuses on workforce and clinical management for dental practices. The platform includes access to a patient portal, scheduling capabilities, business analytics, claims data, billing information, charting and patient engagement tools.
WHAT IT’S FOR
The new infusion of capital will go towards expanding CareStack's customer base and expanding its services to more dentists.
“We are very interested in helping our dentists build a successful practice and making it easier for them to focus on high quality care for their patients,” Kevin Jackson, EVP and chief growth officer at Delta Dental of California, said in a statement. “Our investment in Carestack will benefit dentists’ business operations and improve the patient experience by bringing powerful capabilities and driving greater efficiencies to practices of every size.”
MARKET SNAPSHOT
The dental space has been quieter than other parts of healthcare when it comes to digital health activity. While workflow and patient relationship management tools are popular in main stream health, including companies such as Robin, Welkin Health and TransformationMed, few are tailored to the dental industry.
However, globally the conversations about including digital in dental practices is beginning to evolve.
“It’s not about IT, it’s about improved health safety and quality outcomes. Digital is an enabler to achieve this,” Andrew Saunders, board director of Eastern Health and Dental Services Victoria and HIMSS AsiaPac Governing Council member, told HIMSS TV. “Clinician engagement and buy in is very important. Some of the early failures have been part of that clinical engagement. … It will make it a better if we can leverage the technology to help us. We have 100 years of history to change.”
Where dental is seeing a digital push is in the consumer markets. For example, Beam Dental, started out in the smart toothbrush space and then expanded into dental insurance. Last year it raises $22.5 million in new funds. Menwhile, fellow smart tooth brush company quip acquired dental health plan Afora. Quip landed a whopping $40 million last year in new funding.
Another dental startup worth mentioning is SmileDirectClub, an online assessment for mail-order teeth aligners, which recently went public.
ON THE RECORD
“Simply put, CareStack is rewriting the rules of what an intelligent solution should look like for dentistry — for groups, DSOs and solo practitioners. We are excited to partner with leading firms like Steadview Capital and Delta Dental of California, along with our existing investors Accel Partners, Eight Roads and F-Prime Capital, as we continue to accelerate the adoption of our platform and offer never-before-seen capabilities for practice growth,” Abhi Krishna, CEO of CareStack, said in a statement.
