quip announces acquisition of Afora to open access to affordable dental care plans

Dental Tribune USA

Wed. 16 May 2018

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NEW YORK, N.Y., USA: quip, an oral health company known for making oral care more simple, accessible and enjoyable with its ADA-accepted electric toothbrush, has announced the acquisition of Afora, the New York-based dental care membership plan. Afora is the first company to join the newly launched quip Labs, a venture studio created to foster innovation and development for emerging oral health products, platforms and services.

As the first company to join quip Labs, Afora will accelerate quip’s mission to offer a more simple and affordable alternative to dental insurance for millions of potential consumers independently or through employers — evolving its dental plan offerings and growing its existing dental network of nearly 300 practices in the five boroughs of New York City, with ambitions to expand outside of New York. Afora’s simple plans start at $25 per month and include fully covered preventive services, such as cleanings, exams and x-rays, and discounted rates on non-preventative treatments. Afora connects members directly with a trusted network of top dental professionals, leading to a more streamlined and transparent dental plan for consumers, and a more simple process for practices.

“Perfect oral health is based on prevention, and we created quip to make the entire preventative oral care routine more simple and affordable for everyone. Visiting a professional at least twice every year is a crucial part of your oral health routine, ensuring dental issues you may not be able to detect at home are identified and fixed before they become painful and require expensive procedures,” said Simon Enever, CEO and co-founder of quip. “With over 100 million Americans without any dental coverage at all, and many with coverage that doesn’t incentivize making the most of your covered preventative care, we feel it is essential to offer an alternative that can help more people visit the dentist more often, for less. Bringing Afora into quip Labs allows us to accelerate this project towards our mission of supporting our members through all aspects of their oral care routine, from the products they use everyday, to the professionals they visit every six months.”

quip is known in the dental industry as the largest oral care subscription service, with hundreds of thousands of members and over 15,000 dental professionals currently in its network. Through its digital platform, quip allows dental professionals and practices to directly connect with patients, providing unparalleled insights to the needs of users, and the ability to close the gap between dentists and their patients for an improved oral care experience and oral health outcomes.

As part of the acquisition, Afora will now have access to quip’s resources and expertise in marketing, technology development and creative services, in addition to the opportunity to merge with quip’s existing service and networks. While continuing to lead the Afora team, founder and CEO Dr. Jeffrey Rappaport, who has worked at private practices throughout New York and also co-founded several, will assume the role of quip’s Director of Dental Care.

“We’re thrilled to be joining quip to continue expanding access to preventative care within this massive, and underutilized, $125 billion dental services market,” said Rappaport. “There’s a huge opportunity to bring the same reverence and innovation happening in broader health care to oral health, while providing access to quality of life-changing oral health treatments previously unattainable to many, through affordable, simple to understand and easy to manage plans. As a practicing dentist, I’ve had to deal with the painful experience of using traditional insurance processes and claims in my practices. That’s one of the reasons I created Afora, and I’m excited to continue building a service that will facilitate more affordable, easier and higher quality care for both patients and dental professionals, and share it with the huge consumer and professional network that quip has amassed over the past three years.”

To support quip’s expansion of their oral health offerings, quip has struck a financing deal with Silicon Valley Bank worth up to $10 million. This financing comes on the heels of quip’s recent $10 million Series A in 2017 from multiple parties including Sherpa Capital, Blue Scorpion VC, and Demi Lovato.

About quip

quip is an oral health company that provides thoughtfully designed products and professional dental services to make oral care more simple, accessible, and enjoyable. The current offerings include a wide selection of one of the first American Dental Association-approved (ADA seal) electric toothbrushes, a subscription service on a dentist recommended basis for brush heads and optional toothpaste, and incentives for timely dental check ups. quip’s toothbrush enables better brushing habits by guiding people through a thorough two minute clean using sensitive vibrating bristles that pulse every 30-seconds to cover the entirety of the mouth. Co-founded by Simon Enever and Bill May, quip's investors include Sherpa Capital, Blue Scorpion VC, and Demi Lovato.

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