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Toothpick Is Aiming To Digitize Dentalcare In The UAE & Beyond
The Dubai-based dental health startup has ambitious plans to revolutionize the way we approach oral health.
Last year, the global dental market’s value was estimated at nearly $40 billion. Despite being immensely profitable, the sector remains decidedly old-school in its approach to digitization and cloud-based solutions. For that reason, startups have enormous potential to help dentalcare providers streamline their operations and patient journeys while enhancing supply chains.
One of those startups, known as Toothpick, is a homegrown, UAE-based venture that allows dentists to find products and services in their local marketplace and matches them to various financial solutions.
Toothpick is another success story from AREA 2071, the government-funded startup accelerator helping Dubai become a leading player in the world’s interconnected digital economy. The startup is the first healthtech innovator globally to attempt to digitalize the dental industry and has acquired over 50,000 subscribers, 390 local suppliers, and sold nearly 70,000 products.
Although founded and based in Dubai, Toothpick has expanded its services into Egypt, Lebanon, and Qatar while recently signing agreements for the Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti markets. The company’s next target regions are Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and, if successful, the lucrative Asian and American markets.
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“We were inspired by the leadership and vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to aim as high as possible. Being immersed in the spirit of Emirates Towers and seeing the motivational quotes from the UAE’s leadership on a daily basis instilled confidence. We have attempted to integrate the UAE’s approach to problem-solving into our thinking and company structure, which has led us to achieve some significant milestones and will propel us to further success,” says Sary Azakir, Managing Partner of Toothpick.
As part of Toothpick’s pre-seed funding round, the company raised $2.8 million and is set to generate over $15 million during its Series A Round.
News
Binance Receives Virtual Assets License To Operate In Dubai
As its user base nears 200 million, CEO Richard Teng believes crypto adoption will soar over the next half of the decade.
Global crypto exchange Binance has been granted a full operational license in Dubai, in a move that’s expected to accelerate digital asset adoption and strengthen the UAE’s regulatory landscape.
The virtual asset service provider license (VASP) was granted by the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) and will allow Binance to extend its current range of services to retail investors, the company announced yesterday.
The move by Dubai authorities will be critical to Binance’s strategy of growing its user base globally. The crypto exchange expects to pass the 200 million user mark “quite shortly”, according to Richard Teng, the company’s CEO.
Once that milestone is achieved, Binance will have around twice as many users as rival platform Coinbase. Meanwhile, Crypto.com, another popular exchange with 80 million users, received a Dubai VASP license last week.
“We’re seeing much greater institutional adoption and institutional money coming into this space [along with] much greater regulatory clarity and a lot more jurisdictions approving [digital asset] products that bring in new investor classes,” Binance’s Richard Tang explained, adding: “As of now, we stand at about 5% crypto adoption globally, but that will become much faster moving forward”.
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Dubai and the UAE are extremely supportive of technologies like digital assets, and have already launched initiatives to boost adoption. The UAE has ambitious plans to become a world leader in the crypto economy of the future, with Dubai in particular being noteworthy for passing a new law to regulate virtual assets to support investors and exchanges.
“Global crypto regulation is currently showing diverging signs. Some developed countries have long suffered from crypto-related frauds and illegal exchanges. On the other hand, emerging nations like the UAE and Singapore have enacted crypto laws at faced pace,” said Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer of Dubai-based Century Financial.
As the UAE gears up to become one of the fastest-growing crypto capitals worldwide, investors and talent are flocking to places like Dubai. During 2023, the Emirates as a whole realized $204 million in capital gains from cryptocurrency investments, according to blockchain data analysts Chainalysis.
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