Orthodontics-at-home maker K Line Europe raises €5.3 million

Düsseldorf-based K Line Europe has raised €5.3 million in a Series A funding round led by Nordic seed-fund Maki.vc. The new capital is expected to help the company continue expansion across Europe, as well as enter the Asian, Middle Eastern, and North American markets.

TL;DR - The firm leverages IoT and offers a remote orthodontics monitoring system to consumers. Using a pocket-sized monitoring device paired to a user's smartphone, patients can check their teeth straightening process and perform their own aligner modification without a costly and time-consuming visit to the dentist's office. 

Back in 2020 when the world stopped and even the thought of coming within 2 metres of another individual kept us all shuttered at home right along with the careers of some, K Line Europe decided to give those that were hurt most, in this case, dentists, a practice that hinges upon in-person activity, a much needed helping hand.

In so much, the medtech startup began a new business practice that provides OEM-private label clear aligners to customers, thus allowing them to in turn provide their clients with branded clear aligners. So far, nothing special right?

Well here’s where the kicker arrives: while most alignment devices require continual monitoring and readjustment by, and in the office of, a dental professional, K Line Europe’s offer cuts that waiting room time down to nill.

Patented in 2019 and approved by the FDA this year, K Line Europe uses what they refer to as a “booster” (no-relation to the vaccine), a  small, take-home device that is filled with water and heated to a pre-specified temperature using the ClearX app. Once the aligner is inserted, it takes approximately 5 minutes to “boost” – giving it a new shape or geometry that corresponds to the shape of the next aligner in the treatment series.

Every boost saves one plastic aligner, and each aligner has shape memory for 3 different shapes – allowing the company to reduce plastic consumption by, according to the company, on average 60%.

“The clear aligner market has been surging in the last couple of years. However, the market was undermined by a weak infrastructure of services,” explained K Line Europe CEO Dr. Sherif Kandil. “This has been very evident in the European market, where clear aligner providers had favored their clear aligner manufacturers from overseas. K Line Europe has changed this equation by investing in innovative materials, automation, and robotics.”

On the decision to provide €5.3 million in funding, Maki.vc’s founding partner Ilkka Kivimäki further elaborated, “K Line has built a great product that has already attracted interest from some of the biggest names in dental health – and as med tech is one of the fields that desperately needs new technological advances, we’re happy to support K Line in their endeavor to become the biggest private label provider of clear aligners in the world.”