HGGC, a leading middle-market private equity firm, announced it has made a strategic growth investment in Dentive, a founder-run dental service organization (DSO) that provides management services to entrepreneurial, doctor-run general and specialty dental practices primarily in the western U.S. Terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 2019 by Tom Clark and Austin McFee, Dentive was built to disrupt the DSO industry. With its unique joint-ownership approach, partner doctors are equity owners with full clinical autonomy to continue to run their practices. This innovative model has fueled Dentive’s rapid growth to nearly 70 locations across 9 states.
To date, all of Dentive’s partner practices have joined the company via referral – demonstrating the unique community Dentive is building.
“HGGC is focused on being a good partner — helping where we can while empowering teams to reach their full potential,” said Steve Young, chairman and co-founder of HGGC. “What we love about Dentive is their approach is exactly the same – all of Dentive’s partners are owners, and they empower the dentists they work with. That’s a perfect fit for HGGC.”
“While most DSO’s look at dentists as profit centers, we look to them as partners,” said Tom Clark, founder and CEO of Dentive. “Our relationship with HGGC will enable us to continue to invest in and support the best providers in the world to help them take their businesses to a new level.”
Dentive’s business model is differentiated by:
- Doctor Ownership. Dentive’s partners maintain local ownership in their practices. Partner doctors are also offered the opportunity to invest in the Dentive platform alongside HGGC;
- Community. Dentive seeks like-minded doctor-owners who bring a growth mindset to their practices, careers and the Dentive community. So far, all of Dentive’s partners have joined the platform by referral;
- Autonomy. Dentive’s partners retain full clinical autonomy as owner-operators of their practices. In the background, Dentive provides key support services on an on-demand basis; and
- Growth. The common theme amongst all of Dentive’s partner practices is the desire to grow even faster. Dentive enables this “Freedom to Fly” by providing ongoing education, support and capital to its partners.
“We’ve spent a lot of time in the dental industry and Dentive is the first company we’ve found that fully aligns with what we value most,” Young said. “The spirit of growth and collaboration is unlike any other DSO we’ve seen. We couldn’t be more excited about the opportunities this partnership will unlock.”
About HGGC
HGGC is a leading middle-market private equity firm with over $6.8 billion of cumulative capital commitments. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., HGGC is distinguished by its Advantaged Investing approach that enables HGGC to source and acquire scalable businesses through partnerships with management teams, founders and sponsors who reinvest alongside HGGC, creating a strong alignment of interests. Since its inception in 2007, HGGC has completed more than 500 platform investments, add-on acquisitions, recapitalizations, and liquidity events with an aggregate transaction value of over $68 billion.
More information, including a complete list of current and former portfolio company platforms, is available at www.hggc.com.
