The (Bloomberg) When Minho Chang first began producing 3D scanners, the technology was primarily targeted at businesses like automakers Mercedes-Benz Group AG and Hyundai Motor Co.
Bloomberg's Most ReadHe soon understood that by concentrating on something much smaller—teeth—there were huge opportunities to be had.
Chang made the decision to join the dentistry revolution in 2008. His Medit Corp. created a pocket-sized diagnostic scanner that generates a 3D map of a patient's mouth in place of the sticky molds used to create impressions for implants, crowns, and bridges.
It was popular. Since then, the Seoul-based business has experienced exponential growth and now offers its goods in roughly 70 nations, including the US and Europe. In a sale in December, Medit was valued at roughly $2 billion, about four times as much as when the former professor sold a stake in the company in 2019.The use of 3D scanners by dental offices has historically been expensive, according to Alex Park, an analyst at Daol Investment & Securities Co. in Seoul. "Medit has introduced items with comparable quality but more affordable rates. That has contributed to the rapid growth in use.
Chang, who holds a mechanical engineering PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has become wealthy as a result of his accomplishment. The founder of Medit and others connected to him are now valued at roughly $800 million, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, following the most recent stake sale.
For this report, the firm declined to comment.
The expansion of Chang's Medit company, which he founded in 2000 and is now in his forties, was hampered by the fact that the industrial businesses who had purchased his scanners rarely bought more.
In a 2018 interview with a local newspaper, he claimed that he came to the conclusion that increasing wages and life expectancy would result in an increase in the demand for health care and chose to concentrate on dental 3D scanners. Dental professionals can spot problems and handle complex cases more quickly because to the devices' assistance in quickly producing more accurate photographs of the teeth, gums, and bones.
Before releasing a portable intraoral tool in 2018 at half the cost of rival goods, Medit started with a tabletop scanner. Since then, it has introduced new models, aiding in its rise to prominence in the market.
The market for 3D dental scanners is expected to grow from $1.5 billion in 2022 to $2.5 billion in 2027, according to consultancy firm Fact.MR, whose revenue more than doubled to 190.6 billion won ($152 million) in 2021 from a year earlier.
In another 2018 interview, Chang—who spent more than ten years as a professor at Seoul's Korea University—said, "In the end, it was a smart move to walk into this industry." "The dentistry business is where our 3D scanning technology may be in best use because every person's teeth are unique."
The company has also contributed outside of the dental industry: One of their scanners was used in the creation of the gold-medal winning skeleton racer Yun Sung-Iron bin's Man-inspired helmet.2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.
Despite its success, Medit is facing new difficulties due to escalating competition. The business has been involved in legal disputes involving patents, including one brought by Texas-based D4D Technologies in September and others brought by the Danish firm 3Shape. In the latter instance, Medit claimed in October that all four of its actions had been successfully litigated by German courts.
For 640 billion won, Medit decided to sell approximately half of the company to Japanese private equity firm Unison Capital instead of considering going public in 2019. For 2.4 trillion won in December, Seoul-based MBK Partners agreed to purchase that stake as well as the majority of Chang's, gaining ownership of 99.5% of the business.
Chang explained that engineers become highly loyal to the innovations they build in a 2019 interview with Korea University, saying, "I didn't want a technology with plenty of potential to be wasted." I believed I could do a better job with it because I've studied it for a long time.
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