Investcorp leads $66m round for India dental chain
Investcorp has led a INR 5.45bn (USD 66.7m) investment in Global Dental Services (GDS), an India-based dental clinic chain that claims to be the largest business of its type in Asia and one of the top 15 globally.
Tybourne Capital and SeaLink Capital Partners also took part in the round, alongside other new and existing investors, according to a statement. The new capital will be used to expand the company’s network of clinics and support the development of its direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand LoveMySmile, which focuses on smile correction products like aligners, braces, and teeth whitening solutions.
Founded in 2011 by Amarinder Singh, who continues to serve as CEO, GDS owns and operates 340 clinics across 24 cities in 12 states under the Clove Dental brand. It employs 841 dentists. Clinics are organised in clusters of 15-30, so they can share specialists in areas like orthodontics, prosthodontics, endodontics, periodontics, and oral surgery.
The company claims to use computer vision and artificial intelligence technologies to ensure clinics are hygienic and sterilised, while proprietary cloud-based practice management software is employed to track patient care.
There are also mobile clinics for underserved communities and heritage or charitable clinics that offer subsidised services in less affluent areas.
“The Indian dental services market is worth USD 3bn. It is highly fragmented with large hospitals and dental chains accounting for under 10% of all practices, although this number is expected to double in the next five years,” said Gaurav Sharma, head of India private equity at Investcorp.
“Investing in a single speciality segment, within healthcare, aligns well with our thesis of backing scaled and differentiated assets.
This is Investcorp’s fourth India healthcare deal and its first in the dental space. The firm has previously backed V-Ensure Pharma Technologies, dialysis chain Neprhoplus, and ASG Eye Hospitals. The latter was exited in July when Kedaara Capital and General Atlantic invested INR 15bn.
GDS also represents a fourth healthcare investment for SeaLink, a KKR spinout that closed its debut India fund on USD 315m in 2018. The firm’s portfolio includes data analytics player THB Technology, Surya Hospitals, and Neprhoplus.
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