Because everyone's teeth are unique, orthodontics is part art and part medical witchcraft. Invisalign revolutionized the orthodontics industry in the 1990s with its customizable aligners. However, aligners serve only 30% of patients. The rest of the patients have been left behind. Until LightForce, there wasn't much innovation. LightForce Orthodontics, which uses the catchy slogan "One size fits all", creates 3D-printed braces brackets and placement trays. This is where more customization means better. Patients have shorter treatment times and orthodontists can offer tooth movement plans with amazing precision down to one thousandth of millimeter.
LightForce Orthodontics saw a staggering growth of 500% in revenue over the past year, while the team grew 300%. Investors were attentive and one particular investor wanted to put its teeth into the company and take part in the deal. Kleiner Perkins started its career in orthodontics 25-years ago and made a lot of money with its Invisalign investment. The company's former investors Matrix Partners and Tyche Partners joined them in the $50 million Series C round of LightForce.
We talk about this often at the company: we always put patients first in all decisions we make. Every decision we make always considers the best interest of the patient. Every one of our efforts starts with a patient. We are unlocking a market that represents 75% of all U.S. cases. Imagine adolescent psychology. That is when children form their self-image. Dr. Alfred Griffin III (DMD, PhD), MMSc, CEO of LightForce, still practices as an orthodonticst four days a month. As an orthodontist I can't count the number of cases where my son is teased by his mom. LightForce allows us to help the patient quicker, reduce the time it takes and make them more available for school. By leveraging technology, we get them to a better outcome.
The company raised a Series B round of $14 million just over a decade ago. Although it wasn't looking for additional money, LightForce answered Kleiner Perkins' call to see if there were any deals.
We raised more money than we planned. We raised more than we planned. There were some well-known VCs who were watching us, but they were too busy with other projects. Kleiner Perkins was always on my mind as someone I would love the opportunity to work with, especially with Wen Hsieh. He is a specialist in 3D printing as well as hard tech. Griffin says that he has been involved in many of the most successful hard-tech deals. Kleiner Perkins is the only venture capital group that has made any significant contributions to orthodontics. Align Technology has made orthodontics better since its inception 20 years ago. Align Technology has two value propositions. Align Technology was able to unlock the adult market because of its aesthetic benefits. They also have a digital aspect to what they do.
Many of these innovations are created by people outside the industry, according to Wen Hsieh (partner at Kleiner Perkins), who was responsible for the investment. Alfred is an orthodontist and this investment has made a huge difference. He is a doctor and knows exactly where to place the inserts in their workflow. How can they reduce or enhance their workflow, how much time they can spend, how it affects the dental tech, the footprint of the office and how it affects how often patients have to visit, and so forth. Alfred continues to learn from other sources, including simulation and 3D printing.
You may be wondering why Invisalign isn't available to everyone. I have a similar question. Aligners are only able to push and not pull. Braces can be great for aligning teeth with each other, but aligners cannot. Another aspect of compliance is that aligners must be worn for 22 hours every day. Some people aren't good at this. Griffin points out that mom is not going to be mad at her teenager if treatment is too slow. Both will blame the orthodontist.
This investment is great news for tooth-lovers, but it's also great news to 3D printing enthusiasts. Orthodontics is the largest commercial user of 3D printing technology in the world. Invisalign is the current world's largest 3D printing company. This trend won't change, as LightForce has the financial resources to buy a great number of printers.
The battle for braces can begin with the $50 million cash injection into the company's war chest. LightForce will use the new funds to scale its operations and to go to market to allow more orthodontic practices across the country to enjoy the digital benefits of aligner therapy and the quality and efficiency of braces. It will be a challenging, but exciting journey. Scaling an operation in which every set of hybrid ceramic braces has to be custom-printed for each client is incredibly difficult both logistically as well as operationally.
Griffin admits that scaling, mass customization is an extremely unique problem. While most people talk about it in theory, very few people have actually dealt with it in practice. We currently have around 200 employees in the company, and that number will likely double over the next year. While sales and engineering will be the largest expenses, in terms of headcount we will need the most growth in manufacturing technicians in both physical and digital manufacturing.
