HP/SmileDirectClub
SmileDirectClub staff depowdering aligner moulds printed with HP's Multi Jet Fusion technology.
SmileDirectClub, who had installed dozens of HP Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing systems, has wound down its global operations effective immediately.
It comes just three months after the public company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In the interim, SmileDirectClub had been in talks with its founders and creditors to save the business from liquidation, but failed to thrash out a deal that would allow the dental aligner outfit to continue serving its millions of customers.
SmileDirectClub was founded in 2014 and initially worked as an exclusive third-party distributor for Align Technology’s aligner products, but amidst a legal dispute, SmileDirectClub decided to pivot and become a direct-to-consumer supplier of aligners itself. By 2018, reports suggested it had raised around 380 million USD at a valuation of over 3 billion USD. It then expanded into Canada, the UK, and Australia, before becoming a publicly listed company in 2019. Since early 2021, the company’s stock price had been sliding from a steady 13 USD per share to consistently below 1 USD per share throughout 2022 and 2023.
Similar to its previous collaborator Align, SmileDirectClub had placed great stock in 3D printing technology to help the company deliver millions of aligner products to customers around the world. In 2019, it was announced that the company had installed 49 HP Multi Jet Fusion platforms, which it said would help facilitate the production of 50,000 unique mouth moulds a day and around 20 million a year. Speaking to TCT later that year, the company prided itself on its vertical integration, suggesting it had greater control of its manufacturing processes than competitors, and described 3D printing as its ‘secret weapon’.
The company went on to serve more than 2 million customers, but this year ran out of road. Revenues are said to have declined, with the company never turning a profit as a public company, and, as reported by Fortune, the company was saddled with around 900 million USD of debt.
On its website, the company has published a statement to say: “SmileDirectClub has made the incredibly difficult decision to wind down its global operations, effective immediately. For new customers interested in SmileDirectClub services, thank you for your interest, but aligner treatment is no longer available through our telehealth platform. For existing customers, we apologise for the inconvenience, but customer care support is no longer available. Thank you for your support and letting us improve over 2 million smiles and lives.”
Last year, Fast Radius - another company to have gone public while integrating 3D printing technology into its workflows - also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with SyBridge Technologies eventually acquiring the company's assets in a $15.9m deal.
