What You Ought to Know:
– CareQuest Innovation Companions, an organization devoted to enhancing total well being via oral well being, in partnership with MATTER, a premier healthcare incubator and innovation hub introduced the eight rising startups chosen for the fourth annual SMILE Well being program. This marks the most important cohort thus far, reflecting a rising urgency to help innovation in oral well being, significantly given latest issues round fluoride insurance policies and protracted underfunding within the sector.
– Chosen from a powerful pool of candidates spanning 15 nations and 42 U.S. states, these startups align with SMILE Well being’s core focus areas: advancing accessible, equitable, and built-in well being; partaking individuals of their oral well being; and connecting power care with oral well being. The 2025 cohort consists of Feno, Firstgrin, KiDDY CAPS, Social Cascade, Instances Well being, Toothapps, Willo, and Xploro.
Addressing Vital Gaps in Oral Well being Care
The urgency of preventive oral well being care has by no means been larger, particularly for youngsters and low-income households, with fluoride bans throughout a number of states elevating issues for suppliers and consultants. This 12 months’s cohort strongly displays this want, with many firms concentrating on pediatric oral well being care innovation and entry.
Regardless of enterprise capital funding for oral well being reaching over $400 million in 2024, it nonetheless represents a small fraction of total healthcare funding. This underfunding is especially regarding on condition that oral illnesses have an effect on 3.5 billion individuals globally annually, and annual dental care spending is projected to exceed $430 billion by 2030. The SMILE Well being program goals to bridge this hole by connecting modern startups with a rising community of companions and traders, accelerating options that improve entry, fairness, and medical-dental integration, whereas decreasing the societal and financial burdens of poor oral well being.
“With federal insurance policies for oral well being care beneath risk, there’s an pressing must help innovation that expands entry and fairness,” mentioned Katie D’Amico, vice chairman of development and innovation at CareQuest Innovation Companions. “Backing startups on the forefront of this work is among the best methods to make sure communities get the care they want”.
Accelerator Program
The chosen startups will take part in a four-month, semi-virtual accelerator program designed to validate their options. Throughout this era, they are going to be matched with mission-aligned {industry} companions from a rising listing that features Apple Tree Dental, Cigna Healthcare, Colgate–Palmolive Firm, Delta Dental of Massachusetts, Delta Dental of Washington, Dental Community of America, Glidewell, Heartland Dental, Henry Schein, PDS Well being, and Solar Life Dental (together with DentaQuest). Investor companions like 7wire Ventures, Aphelion Capital, Dental Innovation Alliance, Gilde Healthcare Companions, Revere Companions, Seae Ventures, SpringRock Ventures, and Waterline Ventures are additionally concerned.
Every startup will obtain a stipend, entry to multidisciplinary healthcare consultants, devoted mentors, a curated curriculum, and key enterprise insights. New this 12 months, the cohort will even have entry to CareQuest’s new Startup Information Hub, which gives self-service capabilities to assist innovators validate and scale their options sooner. Considerably, no fairness is required from the startups to take part.
The SMILE Well being program culminates with “Reveal Day” at MATTER headquarters on October 7–8, 2025, and on the world HLTH convention on October 19–22, 2025. These occasions will function curated, one-on-one conversations between cohort members and {industry} leaders. Following the accelerator, startups will retain entry to assets from each MATTER and CareQuest Innovation Companions and may apply for CareQuest Innovation Companions’ ACCELERATE program for incremental funding to additional associate collaborations on industry-advancing initiatives.
Introducing the 2025 SMILE Well being Cohort:
- Feno (Culver Metropolis, California): A linked oral well being platform combining sensible brushing expertise with customized insights to assist individuals perceive, observe, and enhance their oral well being.
- Firstgrin (New York, New York): Supplies pediatric oral care kits and evidence-based schooling by way of a companion app for households, aiming to stop oral illness from being pregnant via infancy and set up wholesome hygiene habits.
- KiDDY CAPS (Wilsdorf, Germany): Transforms pediatric dentistry by providing reasonably priced, minimally invasive zirconia crowns for youngsters, making high-quality caries therapy extra accessible.
- Social Cascade (Raleigh, North Carolina): Permits suppliers to have interaction sufferers between workplace visits with well timed, related data to advertise equitable entry via schooling and drive group well being outcomes.
- Instances Well being (Knoxville, Tennessee): An AI-powered digital well being assistant offering 24/7 dental steering, symptom help, and preventive care schooling for proactive oral well being administration.
- Toothapps (Wayzata, Minnesota): Focuses on advancing well being knowledge entry, interoperability, and real-time affected person engagement throughout the medical and dental care continuum. Its Cair resolution helps sufferers entry, perceive, and act on their full well being historical past.
- Willo (New York, New York): Presents computerized toothbrushes designed for youngsters and people who want additional help or a simpler, hassle-free solution to keep every day oral hygiene.
- Xploro (Cleveland, Ohio): A pediatric affected person schooling platform utilizing augmented actuality, gamification, and interactive content material to empower kids as lively individuals of their well being journey, decreasing nervousness and enhancing outcomes.
