To say that Dr Priti Bhole, Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Lumiere32, is an expert in the dental device industry is an understatement. Aside from her profession as a dentist, Dr Priti also knows the ins and outs of the dental equipment supply chain from working for both a dental device supplier as well as a manufacturer. Her dealings in this field made her aware of the fact that while manufacturers and clinics were digitalising fast, suppliers had a hard time catching up. Stuck in their traditional ways, suppliers make several physical sales trips for even the simplest medical products and collect orders manually, resulting in significant inefficiencies in the supply chain. Discussing this issue with Mr Raman Chauhan, Lumiere32’s Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer, Dr Priti saw an opportunity to help fill the distribution gap. With that, Dr Priti and Mr Raman established Lumiere32 in 2016.
Lumiere32 is a B2B online marketplace for dental/medical products, connecting manufacturers, dealers and dental/medical professionals in Singapore. Compared to other online marketplaces like Lazada and Shopee, the start-up focuses on restricted devices used only by medical professionals, and has obtained the necessary licenses to do so. With this differentiating factor, Lumiere32 has not only gained a foothold on the industry but is also the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.
Lumiere32’s rise to success was not easy. Starting out, one of the team’s concerns was the rental rate of their former physical workspaces at Orchard Road and later, Suntec City. This was especially pertinent given that there were times when the company was barely profitable. However, after reaching out to NUS Enterprise, Lumiere32 was offered an office space at Singapore Science Park and the team was able to lighten a load off their backs.
The Lumiere32 team, consisting of (from left to right) Raman Chauhan (CEO & Co-Founder), Dr Priti Bhole (COO & Founder), Dr Sweety Asati (Key Accounts Manager), Dr Shilpi Verma (Operations Manager), Swetank Sisodia (CTO & Co-Founder)
As Lumiere32 grew its repertoire and became more prominent, the challenges they faced took on a different form. While basic expenses were no longer worrisome, the start-up was faced with the task of choosing the right partners and exploring growth strategies. This included having to sieve out reliable investors from the many who came knocking. With expert legal and investment guidance from NUS Enterprise and Lumiere32’s advisors, Dr Priti and her team managed to better maneuver these uncharted waters.
In recent months, the start-up, just like many others, has had to brave the unprecedented COVID-19 outbreak. However, Lumiere32 managed to not only remain rather unscathed but also become profitable, seeing the pandemic’s disruptions as opportunities. Pre-COVID-19, the majority of the company’s sales were generated by specialised dental and professional medical products, while only around 5-7% of revenue came from consumables like masks, hand sanitisers and other PPE items. However, during COVID-19 when there was surge in demand for PPE, local suppliers ran out of stock within a few days. Therefore, Lumiere32 took to procuring these essentials from other countries like Turkey, India and Korea. As of present, the company has managed to supply close to 3 million face masks, 500,000 thermometers and thousands of other medical equipment to clinics, hospitals, polyclinics, corporate offices, churches, banks and migrant worker dormitories.
At its inception, Lumiere32 had a mere 300 products on their website. Today the site carries over 12,000 products from more than 47 different suppliers. Despite the progress that the start-up has made thus far, Lumiere32 has no plans of stopping their surge forward. For instance, they are currently working on an inventory analytics software using AI and OCR Technology for clinics to obtain real-time data of their product stocks and spend analytics. The start-up has also recently established its presence in the United States. In the next few years, the company aims to expand to all of Southeast Asia and is exploring the possibility of operating a cross-border marketplace.
To learn more about Lumiere32, visit their website: https://www.lumiere32.sg/.