Dental staffing platform TempMee is rebranding four years after its launch.
The company is now called GoTu, a name intended to reflect its mission of being the "go-to" staffing option in the dental industry, said co-founder Cary Gahm.
"We started with a focus on temporary staffing but now the platform also helps people find permanent jobs," Gahm told the Business Journal. "We realized the name 'TempMee' put us in a box."
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The company also leased another 20,000 square-feet of office space at the Miami Tower in downtown Miami, Gahm said, doubling its footprint in the building. The extra space will accommodate GoTu's growing team, which has scaled from two to 150 full-time employees over the last three years.
Founded in 2019, GoTu matches dentists, assistants and hygienists with open shifts at short-staffed offices. Many dental offices are under staffed and struggle to operate at capacity, especially if someone calls out sick. That leads to appointment cancellations for patients.
"Our vision was to solve those staffing shortages with an 'Uber for the dental industry,' " Gahm said.
The staffing crisis was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, with dental offices shuttering during early lockdowns. According to the American Dental Association, about 8% of dental hygienists left the workforce during that period. Replacing those workers was a challenge when dental offices reopened and were backed up with patients.
Enter GoTu. Dentists can use the app to post open shifts along with hourly rates. On the other side, dental professionals can use the app to browse jobs and either accept the proposed rate or submit a counteroffer. In addition to short-term gigs, offices can also post permanent job opportunities.
GoTu received its first outside investment from Florida Funders in 2020. Other investors include Roo Capital and Black Granite Capital.
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Gahm said investors see the value in disrupting staffing solutions for the $156 billion dental industry.
"There are 12.5 more dental offices as there are Starbucks," he added. “This single line helped us more with venture capitalists than anything else."
Now, GoTu connects more than 18,000 dental offices with 50,000 professionals across 30 states.
"This past year has been like a rocket ship for us," Gahm said. "And we're just getting warmed up."
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