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Ram Sudireddy is the quintessential entrepreneur. When he sees an issue, he must establish why it exists — and one of the best ways to unravel it.
Having based and exited three startups (two within the chip/semiconductor trade and one in IT/catastrophe restoration), Sudireddy’s at all times looking out for a brand new downside to unravel. About 5 years in the past he discovered his new calling when he took his son in for a dental appointment. He was shocked to obtain a major out-of-pocket invoice though he had dental insurance coverage for his household.
After digging in to determine how that could possibly be, he found a scarcity of transparency within the trade and decided that dental insurance coverage isn’t actually what most individuals would contemplate insurance coverage. There isn’t any pooling of threat, and protection limits are very low in comparison with annual premiums.
The additional Sudireddy dug into dental insurance coverage, and the oral care trade generally, the extra inefficiencies he discovered. He determined to make the most of his engineering experience and entrepreneurial expertise to construct an answer to this pointless price on society and convey inexpensive dental care to the lots, beginning with the 80 million People who work for small companies or within the gig financial system and are underserved by insurance coverage corporations.
York IE is proud to announce that we invested in Sudireddy’s firm, Bento. York IE participated in Bento’s $8.1 million Collection A that was led by Schooner Capital with extra participation from Companyon Ventures and strategic angels.
The Bento Crew
Sudireddy leads a rising staff of 30 workers on their mission to disrupt dental insurance coverage. Becoming a member of him on the chief staff are completed trade veterans and technologists. As illustrated by the bulleted resumes beneath, the complementary expertise and experiences held by this management staff positions them to disrupt the antiquated and inefficient dental insurance coverage trade whereas concurrently navigating the established order.
- Chief Working Officer Kevin Klein
- Senior vice chairman at DentaQuest (Delta Dental of Massachusetts)
- Chief advertising and marketing, gross sales and technique officer at Boston Medical
- Vice chairman of dental networks and high quality at Guardian Insurance coverage
- Chief Development Officer Landon Lemoine
- Director of gross sales and development, international markets at Modo Labs
- Senior enterprise improvement supervisor at Endurance Worldwide Group
- Enterprise improvement and mergers and acquisitions at Fixed Contact (acquired by Endurance Worldwide)
- Chief Product Officer Prem Yerabothu
- Govt director at IBM
- Founding member and director of improvement at Netezza
- Director of improvement at Applix
- 20-plus years of constructing world-class engineering groups
- Chief Gross sales Officer Chip Huffman
- President at Northwest Insurance coverage Company Group
- Vice chairman of enterprise improvement at NCD
- Senior vice chairman of gross sales at TruAssurance Insurance coverage Firm
- Chief gross sales and advertising and marketing officer at Dental Choose
The Bento Platform
Bento’s HIPAA-compliant SaaS platform will trigger this disruption by enabling anybody (dentist practices and workplaces, unions, associations and organizations, corporations) to construct, launch and administer their very own dental plans with out the necessity for conventional dental insurance coverage suppliers. The platform removes the intermediary within the trade (insurance coverage corporations) by offering a profit builder, cloud-based adjudication, cost processing and transparency, and a cell app. This ends in prices which can be 30% lower than conventional dental insurance coverage for plan administration and claims processing whereas providing higher transparency and worth to members.
With nearly 100,000 of the 160,000 dentists within the nation in its community, Bento possesses the third-largest supplier community behind Delta Dental and Cigna. Moreover, the American Dental Affiliation has endorsed Bento and even makes use of the platform to offer dental advantages to its personal workers.
After preliminary go-to-market (GTM) efforts in 2019, the shake-up of in-person healthcare pushed by the pandemic compelled Bento to change its technique, as a result of shoppers weren’t capable of see dentists and make the most of their advantages. Now the corporate is using a two-pronged method to achieve market share. First, Bento is concentrating on organizations equivalent to HealthShares, Well being Plans and associations that characterize 7 million People underserved by the established order. The corporate can be rolling out a state-by-state GTM plan to promote to gig financial system employees, small and medium-size companies, and enterprises, beginning in Colorado with plans to develop into Georgia, Arizona, Texas and Florida within the close to time period.
Bento monetizes the platform by way of subscriptions and transaction charges. For teams (associations, unions, employers, and so forth.) or dental practices and workplaces offering plans to their members, workers or clients, Bento costs $5 per individual per thirty days. If a person with no group affiliation indicators on to be a Bento buyer, their charge is 7% of any transaction.
Bento just isn’t alone in making an attempt to modernize the antiquated dental insurance coverage trade. Along with the apparent competitors from conventional insurance coverage corporations, there are startups equivalent to BEAM Dental and Stage which can be providing various options. Bento’s key differentiator is the platform nature of its providing. Bento allows dentists, employers and different teams to construct and administer versatile dental plans in a cheap method, offering a greater, extra clear expertise for everybody concerned.
With the potential for disrupting an archaic trade and serving to thousands and thousands of sufferers worldwide, we’re thrilled to companion with Sudireddy and the Bento staff on their journey.
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