Dental care startup Smiles.ai has raised $23 million in their Series A funding round led by Alpha Wave Incubation (AWI). Previous investors Sequoia Capital India and Chiratae Ventures also took part in this.  Other investors in this round are USA-based MBX Capital, Wami Capital and numerous angel investors like Peyush Bansal and Amit Chaudhary of Lenskart; Aakrit Vaish of Haptik; Revant Bhate of Mosaic Wellness; Miten Sampat of CRED; and Sambhav Rakhyan, of WTW.

The dental care segment in India has been highly fragmented. Smiles.ai was founded in 2019 by Hitesh Kakrani and Dr Jatin Kakrani. By leveraging technology, Smiles.ai is trying to use tech as a differentiator and disruptor within the market and establishing itself as a market leader. They plan to establish their presence in GCC by 2022 for which they have set up a subsidiary.

The venture has over a hundred specialist doctors and has lent its services to over 3,000 patients across the geographies of Bangalore, Delhi-NCR, Pune, and Indore. With the funds, they plan to enter other cities and metros. The funds will be used to develop new tech and expand their venture nationally. The venture had previously raised $1 million as seed funds from Sequoia Capital India and Chiratae Ventures. It had been a 100X VC Class 01, 2019 portfolio company.