Diamond Whites Case Study : Crisp Accountancy

Introduction

Diamond Whites Aligners is a rapidly growing company in the dental industry. Disruptors in the growing invisible-aligner market, Diamond Whites have rejected the traditional dentist route to market and instead have adopted an entirely online approach, making aligners accessible to a much wider customer base. With a customer-first model, their flexible payment options, premium service and positive patient experience have quickly set them apart in the competitive dental industry. Diamond Whites have recently been acquired for a total of £30M by Impress, the leading chain of orthodontic clinics in Europe, together creating the largest UK network of orthodontic clinics.

Challenges Faced

Diamond Whites’ CEO and Founder Ben Reed recognised that in order to scale his business successfully he should look to growing his finance function early on. Our relationship developed quickly as we demonstrated our commitment to understanding the business and providing tailored solutions to their specific needs. He turned to us to build out the finance team virtually to take the next step in his business growth.

Diamond Whites offer a buy now, pay later option to their customers and so we have navigated a complex financial model which is fundamental to the success of their business model. We built out a reporting function using extracted and messy raw data from the provider Tabeo and combined it with Shopify, enabling a view of their debt-to-risk profile for the individual products sold using this method, identifying any gaps in debt owed or due.

Solutions

Alongside detailed monthly management accounts using video commentary, we built detailed cash flow and financial models which supported Ben's pitch to venture capitalists where he successfully raised a large amount of capital to secure the future of the company, with our own CEO Luke Desmond attending the pitch with Ben as a fractional CFO.

As part of our virtual finance function and CFO role, we have helped Ben to source investment, restructure his business and develop his financial strategy, eventually enabling an exit for $30M in 2023 to a Billion-dollar company, where we then led the detailed due diligence response.

Results and Outcomes

Investing in outsourcing his finance function to us virtually has enabled Ben to build a professional and skilled team outside of his area of expertise. As a rapidly growing company, being able to add resources to his team quickly and without the inflexibility of hiring internally has been fundamental to maintaining momentum in the business.

Our clear reporting, detailed and jargon-free management accounts, tailored financial insights and cash flow forecasting provided a critical foundation to securing investment whilst maintaining financial control. We were then able to value the business and determine exit figure, and once a deal had been agreed we provided all of the reports and data to support the due diligence process.

Conclusion

Our engagement with Diamond Whites has been a testament to the transformative power of a well-structured virtual finance team and strong advisory relationships. As the company continues to grow and innovate, we are excited to continue supporting their success and contributing to their ongoing transformation.

Diamond Whites' founder and now UK CEO of Impress, Ben Reed, has praised our guidance and support throughout our relationship, saying: “We've been working with Crisp for almost a decade, and the impact the team have had on our business has been tremendous. As our business grew, they helped us to build management information that has been essential for making informed decisions and growing our company".