Dental Innovation Alliance Announces First Investments

Dental Innovation Alliance (DIA) has announced its first investments in UptimeHealth and Relu, both early-stage dental technology companies. DIA was launched to fund entrepreneurs building the future of dentistry through technology and is said to be the first firm of its kind to fund, advise, and propel the success of early-stage dental technology companies.

UptimeHealth is a dental equipment maintenance and repair service with the goal of simplifying these processes through automation and predictive analysis. The software keeps track of equipment, creates and assigns maintenance tasks to staff, and dispatches service technicians with the click of a button, according to a press release from DIA. The data gathered from the platform is sent to leadership, including dashboards from compliance adherence and a list of equipment that is due for a replacement.

"DIA is attracted to UptimeHealth'scompliance management tracking and equipment solutions. We see potential for the company to grow beyond dental into other healthcare sectors," Doug Brown, DIA managing partner, said, according to the company’s statement.

Relu offers a platform-agnostic approach to automatically segment 3D dental images. Its technology is said to help address the requirements of technology and medical device companies to provide enhanced surgical navigation and treatment planning solutions.

"We're excited about Relu's vision and its application of [artificial intelligence] AI to surgery,” Thomas Sharpe, DIA managing partner, said, according to the company’s statement. “Their advances in artificial intelligence applied to 3D images have broad applications within the dental industry and provide numerous angles to develop new products and customers.”