RAY Co., Ltd, Poised for Rapid Dental Category Growth As Round of Venture Capital Closes; Relocates Headquarters to USA
Infusion of Capital by BlueRun Ventures Positions RAY Company for Dental Market Expansion
Atlanta – RAY Company (“RAY”), formerly a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, has announced a new initiative to become an independent manufacturer of market-leading dental imaging technologies. RAY’s strategic decision to leave the Samsung Electronics venture fund provides the company the freedom to focus on the core passion of its founder, Dr. Sangchul Lee, in building a flexible, dynamic developing innovative, disruptive dental imaging technologies. RAY’s singular focus on the dental market and significant investment by a top venture capital firm with ties in Silicon Valley will lead to substantial growth, particularly in the crucial U.S. market, which comprises 70% of all dental imaging sales.
RAY has just closed a round of funding from the Korean office of BlueRun Ventures, BRV Lotus, a firm with a proven record of investing in technology and medical sectors that are transforming industries. BRV Lotus has a history of driving businesses to long-term growth and with this investment has provided RAY with the capital to continue their quest to develop innovative dental imaging technologies that provide exceptional image quality, an improved clinical workflow, and superior patient care.
“We have taken a significant investment in RAY because their technology and team have a proven ability to revolutionize the dental category,” said a partner with the Korean office of BlueRun Ventures Lotus. “Their vast technical expertise, combined with the development and quality control experience gained from Samsung Electronics over the past few years has had a lasting effect on RAY’s ability to provide a new level of technological innovation, quality, and overall value to dentists around the world and, especially, the vital U.S. market.”
In the last year, RAY, in partnership with LED Dental (a subsidiary of LED Medical Diagnostics TSX-V: LMD), has proven their ability to penetrate the U.S. dental imaging space with the RAYSCAN Alpha Extraoral Imaging System, exceeding sales targets, reaching profitability and delivering year-over-year growth of 190% for 2014. RAY plans to create a US-based operation, with offices in Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York to support the rapidly growing customer base.
RAY will be announcing their latest extraoral imaging system, the RAYSCAN Alpha Plus, at the International Dental Show in Cologne, Germany, March 10-14, 2015. Along with the launch at the Chicago Midwinter meeting of RAY’s new RIOSensor Digital Radiography System, an intraoral sensor with dedicated x-ray imaging software , this exciting new imaging platform will be another contribution to the company’s broad product platform.
In obtaining independence from Samsung Electronics, RAY will retain the intellectual property, research and development, upcoming product pipeline and the key employee talent that has driven the company to an emerging leader in the dental imaging space. As a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics over the past five years, RAY has adopted the culture of Samsung as it pertains to their exceptional manufacturing processes, precise engineering and quality control. All current RAY employees will be retained and continue in their current roles, including founder and current CEO, Dr. Sangchul Lee, a recognized expert in the field of iterative reconstruction technique in computed tomography.
Dr. Lee concludes, “Ever since I was a PhD student, I have had a passion for leveraging technology in the dental space. This exciting investment by BlueRun will enable the team at RAY to focus solely on how to deliver dental practitioners the best imaging technology for better patient care. Our goal will be to become the market leader in three years and this investment will get us there.”