mexico’s moons will be joining y combinator’s winter 2020 batch
Contxto – Brace yourselves, moons the startup from Mexico City, has been selected to join the Winter 2020 Batch of Y Combinator. But wait, there’s more moons-related news.
During its most recent capital raising, moons, was backed by Jaguar Ventures, Foundation Capital, Tuesday Capital, and obviously individual investors from the Latin American dental community.
In this round, the startup closed the investment for US$5 million. And moons has plans to expand its operations in Colombia, one of the two countries, along with Mexico, in which it can currently be found.
Related article: All 58 Latin American startups from Y Combinator
The future of braces
That’s right, despite having only been recently founded in 2019, moons with its straightening and tooth whitening program, has been accepted into one of the most famous acceleration programs in the world: Y Combinator as part of its Winter 2020 Batch.
If you are in Mexico, you probably already know moons for its persistent social media advertising. And to be honest, more than once, I have clicked on its teeth whitening ad. But I’ll admit its pricing usually cuts my enthusiasm short.
Besides its teeth whitening solution, the startup’s main selling point is its “invisible” retainer known as moons. This retainer is a transparent 3D-printed aligner and it helps align a person’s teeth without using braces.
Leaving aside its disruption in the healthtech sector, specifically for the orthodontics industry, moons grants free appointments and diagnoses. On average, the duration of the program to use one of its retainers is for around six months.
At the moment the startup has 18 clinics in Mexico and two in Colombia. However, moons may reach other parts of Latin America in the future.
Learning about such an alternative program to traditional orthodontics, makes me wonder: how did the tyranny of braces take so long to be challenged?
As a side note, we’ve heard of a few other startups from Latin America that will be joining YC’s Winter 2020 Batch as well.
And here’s a preview: Mexican Nexu. We found this out based on a recent update by its co-founder’s LinkedIn profile.
There are more to come, we’re just waiting for confirmation. And in any case, we’ll keep you posted.
Related articles: Tech and startups in Mexico!
-CM
