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A plan that might just ease the pain of a visit to the dentist

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Is there anything – just about anything – that can ease the pain of a visit to the dentist?

The short answer is still, ugh, ‘no.’ But the slightly longer one could be a ‘maybe,’ at least it might ease the pain to your purse.

Smile.com.au has closed a $900,000 offering, managed by Tauro Capital Partners, on the Australian Small Scale Offerings Board. It means the discounted membership program for dental services – the first in Australia – has found all the investors it needs now to run its gig.

Tauro Capital raised the first $500,000 in just two days, apparently the fastest in its history. It raised the total of $900,000 in cash and commitments on a valuation of $7.87 million in Round I and $11.74 million in Round 2.

The investment agency calls dentist Dion Kramer’s venture “one of the most exciting businesses” in its five-year history.

Smiles for investors, too

“They’ve done the hard yards and are on the cusp of great things. It’s not often as an advisor you get the chance to work with a business that is not only an outstanding investment opportunity but a business that is going to produce a positive social outcome,” said Tauro Capital Partners Managing Director Simon Ward. “We can’t wait to see how the Australian public reacts to the Smile.com.au proposition. We look forward to working with them again soon.”

Smile’s memberships start at $59.95 for singles and $99.95 for families. Members receive dental fees discounted by 15% or more. The service positions itself as an alternative to traditional insurance, and also as a supplement to private extras insurance.

Over the past 12 months, Smile has doubled its customers to 40,000. It has over 400 participating dentists and more than 500 dentists on a waiting list to participate. That would suggest over 10% of all dentists in Australia are seeking to be a part of Smile, according to Tauro Capital.

Smile has enough funds to implement its business plan, based on revenue and cash flow projections. It expects to use the funds raised for a “full-scale national sales, public relations and marketing campaign that will see the Smile story and proposition marketed through online, print and television media channels over the next six months.”