A buzzy Valley startup has raised $4 million for expansion.
Scottsdale-based Toothio, which has created an on-demand dental industry staffing platform, on Aug. 16 announced a $4 million seed funding round led by San Francisco-based Craft Ventures with participation from Burst Capital, Moving Capital, Revere Partners and Rho Capital Partners.
Toothio, which connects dentists with hygienists, assistants and receptionists via its staffing platform, will use the fresh capital to enhance its technology, boost its sales team and grow its network of dental professionals.
"Dental professionals now prioritize flexible work, the post-pandemic labor market is experiencing unprecedented shortages, and there is a growing demand for dental services. However, existing solutions have failed to keep up,” Ian Prendergast, co-founder and CEO of Toothio, said in a statement. “Our focus is on revitalizing the dental ecosystem through innovation, and we are excited about the next phase of growth as we bring a modern, convenient, and seamless staffing solution to a wider audience."
To advance its growth plans, Toothio hired dental industry veteran Keith Clements as its chief commercial officer. Most recently, Clements was vice president of sales at dental product manufacturer Young Innovations. He also served as vice president of sales at Dentsply Sirona (Nasdaq: XRAY), where he led the company’s strategic account group and its U.S. consumable and dealer-based businesses.
Toothio has nearly 1,000 dental practices and more than 10,000 workers on its platform, which is available in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Denver, Dallas and Austin, Texas.
A way to address dentists' struggles
Prendergast, along with Devon Cox, founded Toothio in 2021 to alleviate dentists’ staffing challenges by providing on-demand access to hygienists, assistants and receptionists.
Prendergast is the former director of market expansion and business development for Qwick, a Phoenix-based hospitality staffing platform.
Prendergast said his idea for Toothio was sparked after meeting a dentist from Denver who mentioned the dental industry was facing a massive staffing crisis.
He researched the industry and confirmed that while demand for dental services was growing, dentists were grappling with finding workers to fill positions at their practices. Some workers had left the industry altogether during the pandemic, coinciding with a 7% drop in first-year enrollment in dental hygiene programs nationwide in 2021, according to the American Dental Association.
“So we realized we could come to the table with a solution to alleviate some of those staffing challenges,” Prendergast said.
Prendergast and Cox met with a panel of dentists to gain feedback on staffing challenges and potential features for Toothio’s platform. They launched the first iteration of the staffing platform in 2022.
Dental practices can use Toothio’s platform for free, and workers can pick up shifts that fit their schedules.
Dentists create a profile, post a shift with a pay rate and are then matched with certified workers vetted by Toothio, which handles administrative tasks such as payments, compliance and tax paperwork. While it's free for dental practices to hire workers on the platform, they can opt into a subscription to reduce the cost per shift of administrative tasks.
Toothio has 19 employees and raised $4.8 million in funding to date, including initial backing from AZ Crown Investments, which is led by the founders of Chandler-based Insight Enterprises (Nasdaq: NSIT).
The company has also garnered some local recognition as Cox was an honoree for AZ Inno’s 25 Under 25 in 2022 and Prendergast is among 11 participants in StartupAZ’s 2023 Collective Growth Cohort, a yearlong program in which founders join together to support each other while scaling their companies.
Toothio is looking forward to continuing to build out its platform and eventually becoming a prominent resource for the dental community, Prendergast said.
The company is considering expansion into Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina in the next 12 to 18 months. Chicago, New York and Los Angeles are also on the company's radar for eventual market expansion, Prendergast said.
“In the next few years, we'd like to be in the majority of the major markets in the U.S.,” Prendergast said. “We're putting a lot of resources towards continuing to build out our platform and adding more value to our customers.”
