Global Dental Services (GDS), which runs the nationwide chain of oral care clinics Clove Dental, has raised $66 million in growth capital, with Investcorp serving as the lead investor.
The other investors in this round include Tybourne Capital Management, SeaLink Capital Partners, and existing investors. Before this round, family offices and high-net-worth individuals had collectively invested almost $100 million in GDS.
GDS, which Amarinder Singh founded in 2011, operates 340 Clove Dental clinics in 24 cities across 12 states. GDS will use the new funding to support its three business segments: dental clinics, dental beauty, and oral care products.
On the funding received, Amarinder said, “We are building a long-term sustainable business, and now, with an institutional investor, GDS will be able to scale much more rapidly.”
Before the advent of COVID, the company, according to the founder, was expanding by 100–120 clinics annually. Due to the pandemic, there has been a pause for the past three years. With the company-owned clinics now operational, it aims for its next milestone of 1,000 clinics.
“We plan to have 30 clinics in every city where we have a presence,” Amarinder said.
The entire value chain, including software, dental laboratories, sourcing, distribution, quality management systems, products, hiring and training dental assistants, etc., has seen investments from GDS. It uses computer vision and AI-based software technologies to monitor safety functions at its clinics.
Amarinder said, “The dental industry in India is on the verge of significant growth. There is increased awareness of both good oral health and the perfect smile.”
Gaurav Sharma, Head of Private Equity, Investcorp India, said, “Today, the Indian dental services market is worth $3 billion. It is highly fragmented, with large hospitals and dental chains accounting for under 10% of all practices. This is expected to double in the next five years. Investing in a single specialty segment within healthcare aligns well with our thesis of backing scaled and differentiated assets.”
