64. Toothpick

Founders: Sandeep Senghera and Jozef Wallis
Founded: November 2012 (launched March 2013)
Website: www.toothpick.com

Jozef Wallis and Sandeep Senghera – a former dentist himself – decided to set up Toothpick after conducting a survey that found a staggering 450 out of 1,000 dental practices failed to pick up the phone during standard operating hours, with 40% also lacking a website. It was clear to both of them that the industry was crying out for a way to make appointment-booking easier, and so Toothpick was launched – an all-in-one dentist booking platform allowing customers to browse reviews, compare providers and book both NHS and private dentists in real-time.

The service charges dentists for new patients found via the platform in addition to a per-booking or flat monthly fee, and it is completely free for consumers. With such an obviously beneficial service, it’s no wonder the start-up completed the remarkable feat of 100,000 live bookings in just over a year of trading. The founders say growth for 2014 is set to soar as the business starts to power back-end dental booking services on the NHS and other providers such as the Scoot network, with further distribution deals in the pipeline and 500 dentists joining per month. They confidently predict that one in four dentists will be using the platform by the end of the year.