SoftSmile Year in Review 2022
by Khamzat Asabaev in Jan 27 2023
As we have approached 2023, I’d like to share what we achieved last year at SoftSmile and our aspirations for the New Year.
2022 was the year of transformation for SoftSmile. We are no longer just a daring startup. SoftSmile is a sustainable business that has created the best orthodontic treatment planner available on the market. Every month thousands of patients receive orthodontic care powered by our technology, which generates substantial revenue. Since 90% of our current customers started using VISION only in 2022, we expect significant growth next year.
Despite many challenges, we have accomplished our main goal: we have proven there is a market need for robust and automated orthodontic software, and that VISION can compete with anyone, be it a global public corporation or legacy software provider.
Our 2022 highlights were the 510(k) FDA Clearance for VISION and our commercial launch at AAO in May in Miami. Both of these achievements led to new partnerships with various global players. Meanwhile, the year had many challenges and I am especially grateful to our team and investors for their resilience and belief in what SoftSmile is doing.
We achieved incredible growth this year. We doubled our team size and opened offices in Abu Dhabi and Cyprus. While we proudly remain a New York-based enterprise, our operations are becoming global, and we expect further expansions in 2023.
We have continued to expand our IP portfolio, which now consists of over 50 US-granted patents covering the software. This is a testimony to the uniqueness of our software and a pillar of the defense of trade secrets.
Throughout 2022 we have been working on 4 (!) different versions of the software designed specifically for various clients. It was essential to develop those versions simultaneously. Our engineers converged the best of all those versions to create one core VISION that can be customized whenever needed. This will save tremendous time on development and increase our efficiency, which will result in unprecedented new feature releases on a very frequent basis.
We are eternally grateful for the clients (including the biggest aligners manufacturers in the world and the most acclaimed orthodontists) who chose us among many other options on the market. SoftSmile has cracked the business model for enterprises and will continue scaling.
However, SoftSmile wasn’t created only to be a software provider for aligner companies. We will keep pushing to serve the customer we’ve always had in mind: the patient who wants a perfect smile but is concerned about the cost. We are preparing to accomplish our mission to be the platform that will unite doctors, patients, and manufacturers to transform the aligner space. We are so close to reaching our goal.
In 2023 we will focus on a two-fold expansion:
- More and more clients, both enterprises and doctors, will choose VISION over any other digital solution;
- SoftSmile, in consort with our partners, manufacturers, and designers from all around the globe, will reveal the platform that will allow any doctor in any part of the world to treat their patients and manufacture their own aligners independently
The aligners market is growing by 30% per year. SoftSmile is going to be the fuel for that growth – we will make sure that every patient will find a way to perfect their smile without sacrificing a fortune. We have always been crazy enough to disregard the established practices or “wisdom” of the engineers who built something 20 years ago. SoftSmile is going to transform the market and align people’s wishes with technology innovations: if anyone can manufacture aligners then everyone shall be able to buy them.
