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Barcelona-based, Impress is a digitally-led Orthodontic chain that specialises in clear alignment treatments. Recently, the Spanish company raised $50M (approx €41.2M) funding in a Series A round, marking it the biggest ever Series A round in Southern Europe. 

Investors and fund utilisation

The round was led by CareCapital (one of the world’s largest dental focussed PE firms) along with Nickleby capital, UNIQA Ventures, and a group of veteran investors. Existing investors including TA Ventures and Bynd VC, have also participated.

The funding will be used to accelerate the company’s growth in existing markets and international expansion across Europe. At present, the company operates in Spain, Italy, Portugal, UK, and France. To date, the company has raised $55.8M (approx €46M) in funding.

Combining tradition with technology

Founded in 2019 by Dr Khaled Kasem and serial entrepreneurs Diliara and Vladimir Lupenko, Impress develops orthodontic technology that offers invisible aligners. The company, on its website, mentions, “Impress was born from the idea that conventional orthodontics results in an improvement in oral health and aesthetics. But the process is long, tedious, and not at all aesthetic, contrary to what the patient desires. From the beginning, our purpose is to make orthodontics a treatment that is comfortable, transparent, and digitised.”

The company aims to transform the oral healthcare industry by developing its own chain of orthodontic clinics, which are characterised by their disruptive design and modern patient experience. 

“In order to revolutionise a sector, it’s necessary to have the best professionals working with the most advanced technology,” says Dr Khaled Kasem.

Healthcare Center of the Year 2020

Impress opened its first flagship clinic operations in Barcelona and was recognised as Healthcare Center of the Year 2020 by Frame Awards. Since the inception, the company has scaled to 75 clinics in Spain, Italy, UK, France, and Portugal. 

The Spanish company says it offers one-of-a-kind digital medical follow-up throughout the treatment with 7-day access to customer support and a mobile app to evaluate the treatment progression monitored by medical staff.

According to the company, its orthodontists always perform and study panoramic X-rays to check nerve and bone health, a necessary test when prioritising the patient’s health. 

“Digitalisation helps to better monitor the treatment, offers a safe experience during the COVID-19 outbreak and better customer satisfaction, but is never a substitute for a necessary medical visit. Patient health comes first and we are committed to it,” says Dr Khaled Kasem, Chief orthodontist and Co-founder of Impress.”

13X growth in sales

Despite the pandemic, the company claims it has witnessed strong growth in the last 15 months with 13X sales. On top of that, the team grew 12-fold from 25 to 300 people, including 150 medical staff. The dental firm says it’s approaching €50M in annual run-rate and is projected to grow to €150M of revenue in 12 months.