Beam Raises $22.5 Million Series C Led by Kleiner Perkins

COLUMBUS, Ohio, (June 12, 2018) — Beam Dental, a dental insurance company for small and medium-sized businesses, today announced it has raised $22.5 million in Series C funding led by Kleiner Perkins. The company will use the funds to expand its data-driven technology platform beyond the three states in which it currently operates (Ohio, Texas, and California). Kleiner Perkins’ Lucas Swisher will join Beam’s board of directors.

Founded by Alex Frommeyer (CEO), Alex Curry (COO), and Dan Dykes (CTO) in 2012, Beam is transforming the $78 billion dental insurance market by providing a better experience for its ecosystem: insurance brokers, businesses, and members. Beam has rebuilt the dental insurance model with a customer-first focus. It eliminates headaches for brokers and businesses alike when onboarding customers and managing claims; and provides members with unique dental care perks and a mobile app experience.

“Innovation in health and dental insurance has been virtually non-existent and has not prioritized the needs of the customer first,” said Alex Frommeyer, CEO, Beam Dental. “We’re excited to partner with Kleiner Perkins to change how nearly 100 million Americans who don't have coverage today access affordable dental care.”

Beam’s technology enables it to gather real-time, segmented customer data to assess risk and price premiums better than its competitors, leading to lower loss ratios. The company has automated critical pieces of the operations stack — from enrollment to premium assessments to claims processing and ongoing member management — to improve the speed and efficiency of its customer service.

Additionally, Beam has reinvented the member experience to differentiate itself from the competition. The company offers members unique perks to better connect with their dental plans. With the Beam® brush, a Sonic powered, smart, electric toothbrush, the company helps consumers lower their premiums the better they brush. Beam has also expanded its offerings in response to customer demand. The company recently recently announced a partnership with VSP VisionCare to offer high-quality vision plans as a bundle with its core dental insurance product line.

“Beam’s customer-centric focus at all stages of the value chain - from broker to business to member - is what initially attracted us to the business. They’ve also optimized their cost structure in a unique way using software to automate key parts of the administrative stack. This combination is powerful, enabling Beam to find the right customers and offer them a better experience, often at a lower price,” said Lucas Swisher, Kleiner Perkins.

Beam will use the funding to further accelerate its market expansion and to develop new product offerings. Beam Dental and Georgian Partners are both investing deeply in machine learning and conversational AI and believe that trust, data security and privacy are crucial to long-term success. The funding brings Beam Dental’s total equity raised to $80M.

About Beam Dental

Beam Dental is a dental benefits company that offers employers a fundamentally unique approach to coverage by incorporating dental hygiene behavior into policy pricing. All of Beam's plans also Beam Perks, a quarterly subscription service with an electric toothbrush, replacements heads, toothpaste, and floss. Beam delivers world class support and service to all members, making easy to find and access dental services with the tap of a finger from a broad, nationwide network of dentists.

About Kleiner Perkins

Kleiner Perkins partners with the brightest entrepreneurs to turn disruptive ideas into world-changing businesses. With $10 billion raised through 20 venture funds and four growth funds, the firm has invested in over 850 companies including pioneers such as Google, App Dynamics, Amazon, Flexus Biosciences, Nest, Waze, Twitter, JD.com and Square. Kleiner Perkins offers entrepreneurs years of operating experience, puts them at the center of an influential network, and accelerates their companies from success to significance. For more information, visit https://www.kleinerperkins.com/.

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