Toothsi's parent MakeO raises ₹90 crore to expand in India and Asia

What did MakeO get for raising ₹90 crore?

The money has three jobs, according to MakeO: expand its dentist network across Southeast and North Asia, strengthen manufacturing, and invest in technology and consumer experience. It will also evaluate acquisitions of dental and aligner businesses as it pushes into more physical clinics, having already bought Apple Dental's 20 clinics in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Why buy clinics when partnering with dentists was working?

Partnering keeps the model light but hands control and the profitable follow-up care to someone else. Owning clinics locks in revenue from scans, check-ups and months of adjustments, and protects the brand. SmileDirectClub's bankruptcy (the US mail-order aligner firm that failed without clinics) shows what happens when patients have nowhere to go in person. Our read: MakeO is trading asset-light growth for control and higher per-patient revenue.

Why does owning clinics beat just partnering with them?

Partnering with dentists keeps the business light, but the partner keeps the patient relationship and follow-up care. The e27 report notes that owning clinics captures more revenue per patient from scans, check-ups and adjustments, and protects the brand from the failure SmileDirectClub suffered when patients had no place to go in person. Our read: MakeO is trading asset-light growth for control and higher per-patient revenue.

How much of this round is actually new money for the company?

The sources do not say what portion of the Rs 90 crore is primary shares, which put fresh cash in the company, versus secondary sales, where existing investors cash out. That distinction matters: primary shares fund expansion; secondary shares do not, and the total does not show it. Our read: the undisclosed split, plus the round being just 18% of revenue, suggests much of the cheque may go to early backers, not to clinic growth.

If the factories in India make the aligners, what does Zenyum actually do day to day?

With Toothsi's US FDA-certified platform now designing and manufacturing aligners for the whole group, Zenyum's role shifts to running the front end: it keeps Singapore as the control hub for Southeast and North Asia operations Ticket, and its team of 600 partner dentists across markets like Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and Hong Kong routes patients into treatment. In short, India is the factory; Singapore is the shopfront. Our read: Zenyum's value now is its dentist network and regional brand, not its manufacturing, which makes the merger about buying distribution, not technology.

Why does India being the factory and Singapore the shopfront matter for the expansion?

The group structure puts India at the centre of manufacturing: Toothsi's US FDA-certified platform now designs, manufactures and exports aligners for the entire business across Asia, while Singapore controls Southeast and North Asia operations. This means the Rs 90 crore round spends on manufacturing capacity in India and clinic expansion abroad using the same aligner platform)Skip. It also means the Indian unit bears the capital costs of new factories, while Southeast Asian revenue flows through a Singapore hub. Our read: the merger effectively turns India into the cost centre and Southeast Asia into the revenue engine, which is why MakeO talks about doubling revenue rather than just growing in India.

If MakeO is EBITDA profitable, why is this round still only ₹90 crore?

The ₹500 crore figure covers the combined business including Zenyum, and EBITDA profit strips out the depreciation and amortisation that clinic expansion and acquisitions load onto the books, as the e27 report notes. At under a fifth of annual revenue, this round reads as targeted growth capital, not a war chest, and the company has not disclosed how much is primary versus secondary shares. Our read: MakeO is funding expansion from operations, with this round paying for specific next steps while bigger capital follows if deals materialise.

Why is MakeO calling this EBITDA profit when it still lost so much in FY24?

The Rs 500 crore revenue and EBITDA profitability figures cover the combined business after Zenyum and Apple Dental, not just MakeO's standalone FY24 numbers. That year, MakeO's own revenue was Rs 179 crore with a Rs 150 crore loss, and EBITDA strips out depreciation, amortisation and interest, exactly the costs of opening clinics and acquisitions. The company has not published audited combined accounts, so these are company claims. Our read: the EBITDA figure is a rounding error away from being a loss once capital costs are counted.

Can a profitable company still need more cash?

Yes. EBITDA profit ignores depreciation, amortisation and interest, exactly the costs of opening clinics and buying businesses. MakeO's Rs 500 crore revenue hides that it lost Rs 150 crore in FY24. The Rs 90 crore raise is only 18% of annual sales. Watch whether the next round is bigger; the acquirer may need it.

What could stop MakeO from doubling revenue in two years?

The bigger rivals are already in the way. Align Technology's Invisalign dominates Asia through orthodontists, Straumann pushes ClearCorrect, and China's Angelalign has scaled fast. MakeO's own model creates friction too: owning clinics puts it in direct competition with the very dentists it relies on for referrals, and it needs capital for clinics and acquisitions that EBITDA profit does not cover. The Rs 90 crore is small against that.

What happens to the partner dentists once MakeO owns its own clinics?

The partner network is the combined group's distribution engine: around 1,100 dentists across 10 countries refer patients for aligner treatment. Owning clinics puts MakeO in direct competition with those very dentists for the same patients in the same cities, as the sources note. That tension is why the company keeps talking about acquisitions of local dental chains rather than building everything from scratch. Our read: the partner model and the owned-clinic model will collide as MakeO expands offline, and the partners may start referring elsewhere.

Could the merged company end up competing with its own partner dentists for the same patients?

The sources say owning clinics puts MakeO in direct competition with the very dentists it relies on for referrals, since the combined group works with roughly 1,100 partner dentists across 10 countries while also operating over 60 clinical centres. The company says it is evaluating acquisitions of dental chains, which would add more owned clinics alongside those partners. Our read: MakeO is betting that owning clinics in a few cities will not alienate partners elsewhere, but in cities with both, the tension is unavoidable and could push partners toward rivals like Invisalign or ClearCorrect.

Why did MakeO buy Singapore's Zenyum?

MakeO bought Zenyum to become a pan-Asian dental company. The deal, agreed in February, gave MakeO, strong in India, access to Zenyum's markets like Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan. The combined group now works with 1,100 partner dentists across 10 countries, with India manufacturing aligners for the whole business.

Why does owning clinics need more cash than partnering with dentists?

Clinics lock in revenue from scans, check-ups and adjustments, but they turn an asset-light network into one heavy with bricks, chairs and staff, so the capital sits in physical things instead of flowing back. MakeO's EBITDA profit ignores depreciation and amortisation, exactly the costs of opening clinics, and in FY24 it lost Rs 150 crore on Rs 179 crore revenue. The Rs 90 crore round is under a fifth of annual sales, so it funds targeted growth, not a purchase spree. Our read: bigger rounds are coming if MakeO keeps buying clinics, since small deals like Apple Dental's Rs 10.9 crore are cheap but the chain's 20 clinics alone did not move that loss needle.

If the next round is bigger, who is most likely to fund it?

MakeO's existing investors are the most likely backers. Eight Roads Ventures is the largest external stakeholder, and 360 ONE Asset co-led the January 2024 round and joined last June's ₹100 crore raise. New names in this round, Singularity AMC, DSP family office, Genesis and Unispace Ventures, are small cheques by comparison. The valuation stays undisclosed, so the next raise will test whether those older backers are willing to put in more at a defensible number. Our read: the company will go back to Eight Roads and 360 ONE before looking for new money.

What makes the clinic-buying strategy fail if the economics work?

The strategy hits a wall when MakeO competes with the very dentists it relies on for referrals. The company's partner network of 1,100 dentists sends patients for scans and follow-ups, but owning clinics turns those partners into rivals for the same patients. The e27 analysis flags this tension directly: owning clinics could cap how far MakeO can push into new cities, since dentists who fear losing patients may stop referring. Our read: the ceiling is the referral network, not the capital.

If small deals do move revenue, how fast can this stacking actually go?

The pace is capped by how many clinics exist to buy. Apple Dental's 20 clinics in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana cost only ₹10.9 crore, but the company did not say what they add to the ₹500 crore top line. Each purchase also needs time to integrate into the combined network of 1,100 partner dentists and 60 offline centres. The ₹90 crore round, under a fifth of annual sales, funds a few such deals at most. Our read: the shopping spree stays small and slow until a bigger round arrives.

What would force a bigger funding round sooner than planned?

A bigger round becomes necessary the moment MakeO's acquisition pace outruns its cash. The ₹90 crore round is under a fifth of the combined ₹500 crore revenue, and the company is still evaluating purchases of dental chains and aligner businesses across India and Southeast Asia. With the valuation undisclosed and small family-office cheques, the company is funding expansion partly from operations. Our read: one substantial clinic chain purchase, not another Apple Dental-sized deal, will exhaust this round and trigger the next raise.

Why is Singapore the shopfront if India is the factory?

The Zenyum structure splits operations by role, not by size. India hosts the manufacturing and design hub, with Toothsi's US FDA-certified aligner platform exporting to the whole group, while Singapore keeps control of Southeast and North Asia operations and runs Zenyum as a separate brand under its own CEO. Clinics follow that map, so new offline centres in Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan serve Zenyum's existing 600 partner dentists, while Indian clinics support the factory model. Our read: the ₹90 crore round stacks regional locations along this existing split, not a new model.

Who pays for the clinics when EBITDA profit is not net profit?

Investors carry the difference. EBITDA strips out depreciation, amortisation and interest, which are precisely what clinic openings and acquisitions pile on, so MakeO's EBITDA-profit claim does not mean cash is piling up. The company lost Rs 150 crore in FY24, and this round adds just Rs 90 crore, about 18% of the Rs 500 crore revenue. The undisclosed valuation and family-office investors suggest the cheque is modest, so either the company funds expansion from operations or it raises again. Our read: the next round will be larger and will test whether existing backers like Eight Roads and 360 ONE Asset stay in.

What would make the clinic buying stop?

The economics of each deal. Apple Dental cost only ₹10.9 crore for 20 clinics, roughly what one year of the company's cash burn came to in FY24, and it has not disclosed how much those clinics add to revenue. If small chains like this do not meaningfully move the ₹500 crore top line, the strategy stalls. MakeO also competes with the very dentists it relies on for referrals when it owns clinics, a tension that could cap how far it can push into new cities.

Why would MakeO keep buying if each deal is so small?

Small deals compound across a fragmented market. Apple Dental's 20 clinics cost only ₹10.9 crore, but they extended MakeO beyond metro cities into Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and fewer than 60 offline centres existed before Zenyum. Each purchase adds local presence and in-clinic revenue from scans, check-ups and adjustments that pure partnerships cannot capture. With the combined group already serving 10 countries, the logic is to stack cheap clinics until the offline network reaches critical mass in each region.

How does the Zenyum deal shape where the new clinics open?

The Zenyum deal sets the map. India is the manufacturing hub, with Toothsi designing, manufacturing and exporting aligners for the whole group, while Singapore runs Southeast and North Asia operations. So the new offline expansion follows that split: clinics in India serve the factory model, and clinics in Southeast Asia serve Zenyum's existing dentist network in Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan. The ₹90 crore pays to stack those regional locations, not to build a new model.

Why raise ₹90 crore right after merging?

The merger gave MakeO scale, not a physical presence. Its mail-order aligner model worked, but dental treatment needs scans, check-ups and follow-ups over months. So the company is buying more clinics, like Apple Dental's 20 in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, to give patients somewhere to go in person, following SmileDirectClub's bankruptcy (the US firm collapsed after relying on mail-order only). The ₹90 crore funds that expansion, plus manufacturing and technology.

Why does the brand need more clinics if it already has 1,100 partner dentists?

The partner network is largely inherited arithmetic from the merger, not fresh growth. Toothsi contributed about 500 partner dentists and Zenyum about 600, and the combined figure of 1,100 simply adds them. Owning clinics, by contrast, captures the profitable follow-up care that partners would otherwise keep, protects the brand from the SmileDirectClub collapse, and deepens per-patient revenue in a way referrals cannot.

Can dentists and owned clinics work side by side without fighting over patients?

MakeO itself frames the future as selective acquisitions of local dental chains, and it already owns Apple Dental's 20 clinics while Zenyum's 600 partner dentists stay on in Southeast Asia. Owning clinics puts the group in direct competition with the very dentists it relies on for referrals, since each patient routed to a partner is revenue that could go to a company-owned centre instead. Our read: partnerships will persist only where MakeO can't yet afford to buy, giving way to owned clinics market by market as capital allows.

Who actually pays when MakeO is stuck with unused clinics and idle dentists?

The company's own structure means the cost piles up internally. MakeO lost Rs 150 crore in FY24, before the Zenyum and Apple Dental deals, and EBITDA strips out exactly the depreciation and amortisation that clinic buildings and equipment generate. The ₹90 crore round is less than a fifth of its ₹500 crore combined revenue, so it must fund most expansion from operations. Our read: if acquisitions misfire, patients are not the ones left with the bill; the investors who backed a consolidator are.

How does owning clinics change the economics of each patient?

Owning clinics means capturing revenue from every step of treatment, from scans to follow-ups, instead of sharing it with partner dentists. That in-clinic care brings higher revenue per patient than mail-order aligners alone, and it builds a recurring stream from consumables like retainers. The ₹90 crore funds more of these centres, but it is only 18% of revenue, so the shift also raises costs, which EBITDA masks.

How many clinics can ₹90 crore actually buy?

Apple Dental's 20 clinics cost ₹10.9 crore in cash and stock, so the new ₹90 crore round could in theory fund roughly 165 clinics at that price, though clinic costs vary by location and the money also goes to manufacturing and technology. The company already operates more than 60 centres and says it evaluates acquisitions, but ₹90 crore is only about 18% of its ₹500 crore revenue. Our read: the round is sized for a handful of Apple Dental-style deals, not a nationwide network.