Investment in dental AI is rapidly growing.
The California-based dental AI company Pearl made headlines on July 24 when it announced it had raised $58 million in Series B funding, marking the largest investment ever in dental artificial intelligence.
This Series B financing, which happens when a company meets certain milestones and has moved past the initial startup stage, saw participation from Smash Capital, Alpha Partners, and existing investors Craft Ventures and Neotribe Ventures, with Lane Capital leading the round.
“We have spent the past year evaluating this market and it is clear that Pearl stands above peers at the forefront of dental innovation,” said Vinny Pujji, Managing Partner at Left Lane Capital.
Founded in 2019 by Ophir Tanz and Dr. Kyle Stanley, both of whom have dentist fathers, Pearl was also a member of the NVIDIA Inception startup program. This program provided Pearl access to Deep Learning Institute courses, NVIDIA Developer Forums, and technical workshops.
Before announcing its significant investment, Pearl, along with Canadian company Patterson Dental Canada, revealed a collaboration to expand access to Pearl’s Second Opinion AI disease detection capabilities within the Canadian dental market. Second Opinion is an FDA-cleared AI radiologic detection aid that helps dentists identify numerous common dental conditions, including tooth decay, calculus, and root abscesses.
Thrashing Previous Record
Pearl’s $58 million figure surpasses Boston-based Overjet’s $53.2 million Series C round from early March, which was then the largest investment in dental AI. Series C funding involves investors injecting capital into successful businesses with the expectation of significant returns.
With AI and 3D printing continuing as major trends in the AI and dentistry world, a recent study from DataHorizzon Research predicts that the digital dentistry market will grow steadily at 9.7% annually, reaching an estimated worth of $18.3 billion by 2032.
