Venture fund TA Ventures and private investors club ICLUB invested in Spanish startup from the digital health space Impress. $50M Series A round was led by CareCapital with participation from Nickleby capital, UNIQA Ventures, and others.
About the Impress
Impress was founded by orthodontist Dr. Khaled Kasem and serial entrepreneurs Diliara and Vladimir Lupenko in 2019 in Barcelona. The idea was to “combine the best orthodontic tradition with the most innovative technology in the sector.”
Impress is a chain of company-owned clinics specializing exclusively in invisible orthodontics – a treatment that consists of using a set of transparent aligners, personalized with AI-assisted 3D scanning for each patient, in order to trigger the gradual movement of the teeth to the desired position. The methodology combines traditional treatment with the latest technology, individualized app-based digital monitoring 24/7 from anywhere, and a qualified medical team.
Impress combines approaches of Direct-to-Consumer brands with high-quality medical care. A client only needs to come to the clinic once for an oral scan; all other services are provided remotely, which allows the startup to grow faster.
Impress is led by the Chief Orthodontist Dr. Kh. Kasem and serial entrepreneurs Dilara and Vladimir Lupenko.
Today Impress operates in Spain, Italy, Portugal, the U.K., and France and plans to scale across Europe. It already has 75 clinics and now is approaching €50 million in annual run-rate. Impress is projected to grow to €150 million of revenue in 12 months, as reported by TechCrunch.
Why TA Ventures and ICLUB invested
TA Ventures and ICLUB were among the first investors in Impress back in 2019. After exceptional growth in 2019 and quickly after raising the seed round the company is ready to grow even more.
TA Ventures partner Oleg Malenkov explains the fund’s investment rationale: “Impress didn’t copy what other companies in the space were doing and approached the market from a different angle from the get-go. They doubled down on the doctor-led digital model which brought way better conversion rates and treatment quality even though on paper it looked complex in the beginning. It’s still very complex but the team was able to crack it and scale exponentially. We at TA Ventures couldn’t be more proud of the team today! Long way to go.”
For private investors club ICLUB Global, Impress became the record deal in terms of investment size from club members. ICLUB members participated in each round raised by Impress so far.
“We presented Impress to ICLUB members three times, and it caused a furor among them. The first time we showed it, the company was just an idea, but still, Ukrainian angels believed in it,” says ICLUB Regional Partner Igor Pertsiya.
The new funding will be used to open new clinics in more countries and overall growth.
