Ram Sudireddy is the quintessential entrepreneur. When he sees an issue, he must determine why it exists — and the easiest way to unravel it.
Having based and exited three startups (two within the chip/semiconductor business and one in IT/catastrophe restoration), Sudireddy’s at all times looking out for a brand new drawback 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 big out-of-pocket invoice regardless that he had dental insurance coverage for his household.
After digging in to determine how that may very well be, he found an absence of transparency within the business and decided that dental insurance coverage isn’t actually what most individuals would think about insurance coverage. There isn’t a pooling of danger, and protection limits are very low in comparison with annual premiums.
The additional Sudireddy dug into dental insurance coverage, and the oral care business 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 reasonably priced dental care to the plenty, beginning with the 80 million Individuals 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 further participation from Companyon Ventures and strategic angels.
The Bento Staff
Sudireddy leads a rising crew of 30 workers on their mission to disrupt dental insurance coverage. Becoming a member of him on the manager crew are achieved business veterans and technologists. As illustrated by the bulleted resumes beneath, the complementary expertise and experiences held by this management crew positions them to disrupt the antiquated and inefficient dental insurance coverage business 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
Vp of dental networks and high quality at Guardian Insurance coverage
Chief Progress Officer Landon Lemoine
Director of gross sales and progress, world 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
Vp 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 business (insurance coverage corporations) by offering a profit builder, cloud-based adjudication, fee processing and transparency, and a cell app. This ends in prices which might be 30% lower than conventional dental insurance coverage for plan administration and claims processing whereas providing better transparency and worth to members.
With virtually 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 in a position to see dentists and make the most of their advantages. Now the corporate is using a two-pronged strategy to realize market share. First, Bento is focusing on organizations similar to HealthShares, Well being Plans and associations that symbolize 7 million Individuals underserved by the established order. The corporate can also be rolling out a state-by-state GTM plan to promote to gig financial system staff, 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 through subscriptions and transaction charges. For teams (associations, unions, employers, and many others.) or dental practices and workplaces offering plans to their members, workers or clients, Bento costs $5 per particular person per thirty days. If a person with no group affiliation indicators on to be a Bento buyer, their payment is 7% of any transaction.
Bento shouldn’t be alone in attempting to modernize the antiquated dental insurance coverage business. Along with the apparent competitors from conventional insurance coverage corporations, there are startups similar to BEAM Dental and Stage which might 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 business and serving to tens of millions of sufferers worldwide, we’re thrilled to associate with Sudireddy and the Bento crew on their journey.
