CareQuest Innovation Partners and MATTER have announced the addition of industry partners and more than US$1 million in available investment capital to SMILE Health, a programmed launched in mid-March 2022 to identify and accelerate early-stage start-ups at the intersection of oral health improvement and health equity advancement.
Under SMILE Health, 14 industry organisations will support the first cohort of start-ups looking to accelerate new solutions to provide accessible, equitable, and integrated oral health in a manner that is Simple, Minimally Invasive, Integrated, Low-barrier, and Equitable—or SMILE.
The growing list of partners include: 42 North Dental, Colgate-Palmolive, Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, Demos Capital, DentalMarketIQ, DentaQuest, Enable Dental, MouthWatch, P&R Dental Strategies, Procter & Gamble/Crest Oral-B, Revere Partners, Seae Ventures, USAble Life, Washington Dental Service.
“The unprecedented response to SMILE Health speaks to both the importance of our challenge — creating a more accessible, equitable, and integrated oral health system for everyone — and the very real innovation gap that currently exists in oral health,” said Mariya Filipova, chief innovation officer of CareQuest Innovation Partners.
“Partners are joining us from all corners of the healthcare ecosystem. Their participation creates an unparalleled platform to scale validated solutions that will transform oral health for those who need them the most.”
Organisations can join SMILE Health as Impact and/or Scale Partners to help validate participating start-ups’ solutions to make them market-ready and provide capital and access to customers.
