Pearl, the global frontrunner in dental artificial intelligence, has announced a groundbreaking $58 million Series B funding round, marking the largest investment ever in dental AI. The funding, led by Left Lane Capital with participation from Smash Capital, Alpha Partners, and existing investors Craft Ventures and Neotribe Ventures, aims to accelerate Pearl’s mission of elevating patient care in dentistry worldwide.
The substantial investment will enable Pearl to expand its line of dental AI products, broaden its regulatory and patent portfolio, and increase global access to AI’s transformative benefits in dentistry. Pearl’s machine learning and computer vision tools address a critical challenge in the field; inconsistency in diagnostic accuracy, which directly impacts patient care quality.
Since receiving the first-ever FDA clearance for AI software to detect multiple pathologies in dental x-rays, Pearl’s clinical AI has gained regulatory authorizations for chairside use in over 120 countries and recognition among TIME’s Best Inventions. The company plans to use the new funding to accelerate the development of computer vision capabilities and introduce new AI tools to improve patient treatment planning, insurance claim approvals, and dental education.
Ophir Tanz, founder and CEO of Pearl, stated, “In the field of healthcare, dentistry has become an AI standard-bearer, demonstrating the technology’s enormous utility and benefit in day-to-day patient care––and Pearl has led the AI charge in dentistry. This historic funding round underscores the impact of Pearl’s capabilities and supports our belief that high-quality, AI-powered dental care should be accessible to everyone. With this investment, Pearl will continue to push the envelope, providing pioneering machine learning to improve oral health outcomes and strengthen trust between the patient and dental professionals.”
The funding announcement follows a period of significant growth for Pearl, with a 458% revenue increase in 2023. The company’s technology is currently used in dental practices across six continents and is commercially available to over 500,000 dental practices and millions of dental professionals worldwide.
Vinny Pujji, Managing Partner at Left Lane Capital, commented on the investment, saying, “We have spent the past year evaluating this market and it is clear that Pearl stands above peers at the forefront of dental innovation. Pearl’s pioneering dental Al improves diagnostic accuracy and efficiency while transforming the provider-patient relationship. We’re confident in Pearl’s ability to continue setting new standards of care and are thrilled to support their next phase of growth.”
The substantial investment in Pearl reflects growing interest in AI applications within dentistry. As the technology continues to develop, it may have significant implications for dental diagnostics, patient care, and practice management. However, the long-term impact of AI in dentistry remains to be seen, and its adoption may face challenges such as regulatory hurdles, integration with existing systems, and acceptance by dental professionals and patients alike.
As Pearl and other companies in this space move forward, the dental industry will be watching closely to evaluate how AI technologies perform in real-world clinical settings and whether they deliver on their promised benefits.