Electric toothbrush startup Quip raised $10 million in funding from Silicon Valley Bank and acquired Afora, a dental insurance startup. Afora will now be part of Quip’s newly formed venture studio, Quip Labs. The idea with the studio is to fuel innovation in oral health products, platforms, and services.
WHO: Quip, a New York-based startup founded by Simon Enever and Bill May, launched in 2015 and makes subscription electric toothbrushes. The Quip toothbrush is simple with an elegant design and minimal features. The brushed metal version comes in starting at $40. For bargain hunters, it comes in less-expensive blue or green plastic starting at $25.
Afora is a New York-based startup that offers an alternative to traditional dental insurance with plans starting at $25 a month. All of its plans include preventive services like two cleanings per year, annual exams and x-rays, and pre-negotiated pricing for additional work, like root canals.
WHY: The plan with this round is to further accelerate the company’s expansion into new physical and digital products and services to serve their members. The acquisition of Afora will help Quip get more quickly embedded in preventative care.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Quip specifically wants to handle everything that happens before and after your checkups with the dentist, Enever said. In order to get there, Enever told Techcrunch Quip needed to start with an affordable electric toothbrush, “but we are extremely excited to start accelerating our mission to provide more digital and professional services that complete this loop to more people.”
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