quip Announces It Is Acquiring Afora To Open Up Access To Affordable Dental Care Plans
NEW YORK (PRWEB) May 16, 2018 -- quip, an oral health company that makes oral care more simple, accessible, and enjoyable, is today announcing it is acquiring Afora, the New York-based dental care membership plan. Afora will become the first company to join the newly launched quip Labs, a venture studio created to foster innovation and development of 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. 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 network of hundreds of thousands of members and dental professionals. While continuing to lead the Afora team, co-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. The Afora team will be moving into quip’s growing Brooklyn office.
“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,” says 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 6 months.”
“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 Dr. Jeffrey Rappaport, Co-Founder of Afora. “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.”
quip provides a full breadth of oral care products, advice and services, including one of the first American Dental Association accepted electric toothbrushes, to offer an end-to-end solution for improved dental hygiene. As the largest oral care subscription service with a digital platform, quip has a direct touchpoint to hundreds of thousands of active users and dental professionals, 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.
The launch of quip Labs enables the company to forward the advancement and improvement of oral health through accessibility, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Projects within quip Labs will include accelerating early stage companies, consultation to pre-launch companies, incubation of internal and external projects, as well as support for dental student initiatives and scholarships.
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.
About Jeffrey Rappaport
Dr. Jeffrey Rappaport is a general dentist and co-founder of Afora in New York City. Dr. Rappaport received his Bachelor of Arts from George Washington University before earning his Doctorate of Dental Surgery degree from New York University where he was also selected to be part of the Endodontic Honors Program. At New York University, he met his now wife and co-founder, Dr. Michelle Katz, where they both volunteered in Nicaragua providing dental care to communities. Following his studies, he trained and completed his general practice residency at The Newark Beth Israel Hospital in New Jersey. Having worked at private practices throughout New York and New Jersey, Rappaports’ passion for providing the highest standard of care to all led him to cofound LAVAAN Dental Spa and later, Afora, while acting as advisor and director on other innovative oral care startups.
Michal Kaplan-Nadel, Moxie PR, +1 (914) 3550683, [email protected]
Share this article