D.A. Davidson & Co. announced today that it has served as exclusive financial advisor to Planet DDS, LLC in securing a significant growth equity investment from Level Equity. Level Equity is a growth equity firm focused on providing capital to rapidly growing software and internet companies. Level has raised over $1.7 billion since inception across a series of long-term committed investment partnerships and has offices in New York and San Francisco.
Headquartered in Newport Beach, Calif., Planet DDS, through its flagship product, Denticon, provides cloud-based dental practice management software. Since its founding in 2003, Planet DDS has been dedicated to providing individual dentists and multi-location dental groups with the software necessary to increase efficiencies and grow their practices while reducing IT spend and enhancing security. After years of development and innovation, the company is trusted by some of the most successful dental groups and individual practices in the industry. Planet DDS has nearly tripled in scale since 2015, and this financing marks the first institutional equity capital ever raised by the company.
“Eric Giesecke, CEO, and Blake Rice, President of Planet DDS, have done a tremendous job growing the company over the past several years,” said Joe Morgan, managing director at D.A. Davidson. “With this investment and Level Equity as a partner going forward, Planet DDS is primed to continue its accelerating growth and further establish itself as the leading provider of cloud-based dental practice management software.”
Planet DDS has been able to achieve impressive growth by leveraging its best-in-class enterprise software solution and the leadership team’s ability to recognize and capitalize on key market trends, namely accelerating consolidation in the dental industry and growing demand for its enterprise cloud solution to replace outdated desktop software.
“We are thrilled to have worked with the D.A. Davidson technology investment banking team on this transaction,” said Eric Giesecke, CEO of Planet DDS. “By leveraging its deep industry knowledge and relationships, D.A. Davidson found us the best investment partner to help us take Planet DDS to the next level.”
D.A. Davidson’s investment banking division is a leading full-service investment bank that offers comprehensive financial advisory and capital markets expertise. The group has extensive transaction experience serving middle market clients worldwide across five industry verticals: consumer, diversified industrials, financial institutions, real estate and technology.
Together with its European strategic partner, MCF Corporate Finance, D.A. Davidson originates and executes transatlantic M&A transactions under the common brand of D.A. Davidson MCF International.
About D.A. Davidson Companies
D.A. Davidson Companies is an employee-owned financial services firm offering a range of financial services and advice to individuals, corporations, institutions and municipalities nationwide. Founded in Montana in 1935, with regional headquarters in Great Falls, Denver, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle, the company has approximately 1,400 employees and offices in 25 states coast to coast.
Subsidiaries include: D.A. Davidson & Co., the largest full-service investment firm headquartered in the Northwest, providing wealth management, investment banking, equity and fixed income capital markets services and advice; Davidson Investment Advisors, a professional asset management firm; D.A. Davidson Trust Company, a trust and wealth management company; and Davidson Fixed Income Management, a registered investment adviser providing fixed income portfolio and advisory services.
For more information, visit dadavidson.com.