Imagine the annoying task of having to floss daily, with blood loss, difficulty in getting the hard-to-get areas, uneven teeth causing not every area to be flossed being solved in only 10 seconds. That is the ambitious goal of Instafloss, using a new product that goes from one side of the mouth to the other, completely flossing all teeth with just pure water.
Instafloss raised $376,670 USD on a campaign ended January 28, 2023, at a valuation of $15.7m USD on republic: https://republic.com/instafloss
Often times with consumer products, there isn’t a whole lot of differentiation compared to the competition. From what I could find, a 10 second floss machine, if successful, far surpasses the existing floss options on the market.
Socrates once said to beware the barrenness of a busy life. Many people now seem to be busier than ever in modern life, and love to seem busy, while also not achieving any goals while also lacking time. Something that can be efficient for someone’s life in saving time, while giving people the opportunity to continue to live these apparent busy lives, offers a natural time saver appeal.
Product
I am currently using the waterpik in addition to regular flossing on top afterwards, as the water does not cover everything. My experience with flossing daily is that it takes forever and must be done thoroughly otherwise teeth will go rotten. I’ve visited some dental offices, and talked to some dentists, and they have all heard of the waterpik and even give advisory on not relying on it alone as it does not do the trick. Given the widespread use of waterpik, the 10 second waterfloss product seems like a better mouse trap. If distribution and execution are achieved, then this could become the new mainstream waterpik and dominate a niche market that all dentists and dental offices have heard of.
They have multiple utility patents already and more coming. As each of these patents typically cost between $10,000-$20,000 USD, these patents offer intellectual property protection to ward off copy cats, and can then be used to win successful lawsuits for infringements. In the worst case that the product is a total disaster, the patents could still be sold or licensed out to make some amount of money.
The one significant risk is that a mass amount of the product has not been sold yet given the pre-revenue state, which leads to the possibility that there could be manufacturing problems rendering the product useless. From the testing reviews so far, it appears to be a working success. If the first ones shipped turn out to be a flop, it would take the company some more time and money in order to make adjustments to the product, and then redeliver or relaunch again. My expectation is for reiterations and improvements to occur even if the first batches delivered turn out to be working as intended. Like other products with the S-curve innovation pattern, it’s likely in a few years time the polished version will be actively available and ordered in the market.
Growth
Instafloss currently has $2.5m+ in pre-orders, and an additional 41k individuals on an email waitlist. The machine retails for $267 USD each on their website https://instafloss.com/
With that price point, it would currently be a premium offering, with other waterpik options on the higher end going for ~$150 USD. If they can achieve economics of scale, the mass production needs to reduce the price point down in the $100-$200 USD range ideally to appeal to a greater audience.
$950k equity has been raised previously, and I’d anticipate future rounds to occur, given the $1.5m loss in 2021 and $688k loss in 2020. This figures to be capital intensive in the race to get production on a scalable level.
One comparable is the current water floss market leader Waterpik. They were sold in 2017 for $1.3 billion USD, with trailing twelve months sales at the time of $276 million. At the time, it was the #1 water flosser brand. On the high end, the 100-bagger potential exists, if Instafloss would sell at $1.57 billion from the raise valuation of $15.7 million. To get to $276 million revenue assuming a lower price point average of let’s say $200, 1.38 million units would have to be sold in a year. Approximately 125 million households exist in the US, so Instafloss would have to sell to slightly more than 1% of all households.
Instafloss offers swappable mouthpieces so multiple people in a household can use one machine. The price point doesn’t look so bad if it’s shared amongst multiple people, and could entice households to be more likely to make a purchase.
Instafloss also has some additional revenue options, and recurring subscription options:
Mouthpiece replacement, $15/quarter, avg household quantity at 1.5, could lead up to $90/year in subscription revenue.
Mouthwash, $15/quarter, avg household quantity at 1.5, could lead up to $270/year in subscription revenue.
I don’t know if a household would spend $270 per year on mouthwash. Potentially that could to another 10-20% of revenue compared to the Instafloss machine potentially per year on top line revenue.
Founder
Founder Eli Packouz has quite the extensive resume, including:
-a serial entrepreneur including 2x tech founder
-has created 8 commercially successful products launched to market
-his prior company Singularsound revenue went to $20 million plus annually
Ok, right there and then those are multiple positive reasons to increase the likelihood of success. From his interviews, I gather he seems like a creative guy who genuinely enjoys tinkering and coming up with new products and gadgets. It’s like Iron Man in real life, constantly spitting out stuff that works. Add to that enough business savvy with previous exits, and it together it seems like a winning combination.
Market
The nice thing about this market size is that currently 70% of Americans don’t floss. If the Instafloss gets cheap enough, it could convince many of them to convert to 10 second flossers. And this doesn’t even consider the international markets in other countries. If the ratio is also the same at 70% not flossing, there represents more untapped market that may not be accounted for.
Instafloss themselves estimates the serviceable addressable market at $1.2 billion via manual water flossing, serviceable addressable market at $6 billion via the current flossing market, $54 billion total addressable market through the entire consumer oral care market, and $68 billion for potential addressable market if more people flossed. The water flosser will convert manual flossers and non flossers, addressing a need that is in the industry but not yet fulfilled with a product that good.
Disclaimer
This is not Financial Advice. This article is meant only for educational and perhaps entertainment purposes.
Disclosure
I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of Instafloss either through SAFEs, stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it from Instafloss. I have no business relationship with any company who is mentioned in this article.