Crowdfunding campaign aims for £1 million
A Perthshire-based dental firm has launched a world-first crowdfunding campaign to raise £1 million and take its revolutionary new invention to market.
Reminova, the first spin-out from the King’s College London Dental Innovation and Translation Centre which was launched in January 2013, is chaired by former Dundee Dental School dean Professor Nigel Pitts. Prof Pitts is the company’s co-founder alongside Dundee graduate Dr Chris Longbottom.
The company’s pain-free treatment reverses and repairs early-stage tooth decay. It uses electrical pulses to regrow natural tooth enamel. There is no need for fillings or injections – instead teeth are painlessly repaired.
With their help and investment, our tooth rebuilding treatment could be available to patients within three years.
Dr Jeff Wright, Reminova CEO
The company is developing a dental instrument and consumable treatment packs. The company estimates a market of 700,000 dentists across eight countries worldwide. The device will cost less than $10,000 while packs will sell at below $10.
Reminova, which holds or is applying for 17 patents and has the exclusive intellectual property licence to commercialise its technology worldwide, is now looking to raise £1m to expand its development team in Scotland, engineer more prototypes, plan clinical studies and explore strategic partnerships.
This is believed to be the first time a company has run an equity crowdfunding campaign in the UK and US simultaneously.
Led by CEO Dr Jeff Wright and chairman Professor Nigel Pitts, its management team includes world leaders in tooth decay. There is no controlling shareholder group at Reminova or Venture Capital investment.
Dr Wright said: “Tooth decay strikes vulnerable groups hard: children; the elderly; those living in developing countries.
“Anaesthetic injections and the dentist’s drill cause fear, stress and pain. And put people off going to the dentist for a check-up.
“We can reverse the decay and rebuild the enamel. So you never get those horrible fillings and never have to face an injection. Dental drilling becomes a thing of the past. With our treatment you can top-up your natural teeth enamel whenever you need, just as you’d service your car when it needs a bit of loving care.”
Reminova is raising money through UK-based equity crowdfunding specialist ShareIn. Investors are being invited to buy shares in Reminova. Minimum investment levels have been set at £1,000 in the UK/EU and $5,000 in the US.
Dr Wright added: “The beauty about equity crowdfunding is we get shareholders who, like us, want to take the fear, stress and pain out of trips to the dentist. As well as being motivated by the potential financial returns.
“With their help and investment, our tooth rebuilding treatment could be available to patients within three years.
“Together we can change the face of dentistry.”
Reminova’s crowdfunding “stretch target” for the 60-day campaign is £1m. Its initial crowdfunding target is £500,000. This is how it would use the money:
• Expand its development team in Scotland.
• Develop a regulatory and clinical plan to bring caries (tooth decay) remineralization (the process of building back natural tooth enamel) and teeth-whitening (another application of the technology) products to market.
• Engineer more advanced prototype Electrically Accelerated and Enhanced Remineralization (EAER) instruments.
• Strengthen the company’s commercial operations and Management Team.
• Plan initial clinical studies.
• Explore strategic partnerships with companies that already supply dental products, with strong global sales and marketing skills. Partnering can speed up manufacturing, clinical trials, and provide an established sales channel for Reminova’s products to professional dentists.
For more information and to invest, click here.
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