Swiss dental startup Vvardis targets multibillion-dollar US IPO

Vvardis is preparing to take its dental-care business from Zug to Wall Street, with its first public share trading expected on Friday. The Swiss startup plans to offer around 9.5 million shares at $21 to $24 apiece, raising just under $229 million for the company. Haley and Goly Abivardi are seeking a valuation of up to $4.4 billion, equivalent to CHF 3.6 billion.

The listing puts the sisters’ latest venture under public-market scrutiny after they built and sold Swiss Smile, a chain of dental practices. Vvardis specialises in dental care and is betting that a treatment for early tooth decay can support its next phase of growth. The stakes are high: the company remains loss-making, carries substantial debt and needs revenue growth to outpace its financial burden. Investors will be weighing that risk against the promise of a product designed to treat developing cavities before more invasive care is needed.

Vvardis reported a $56.4 million loss last year, followed by a loss of around $40 million in the first nine months of the current year. Revenue over those nine months reached around $49 million, leaving the company with a wide gap between sales and spending. The prospect of a public listing comes as Vvardis seeks capital to keep growing and move towards break-even in the medium term.

Debt adds pressure. At the end of 2025, Vvardis had $103 million in outstanding loans, with interest rates reaching 16% on part of the borrowing. The loans fall due in 2027 and 2030. The company’s financial outlook therefore depends on whether it can keep expanding revenue while managing repayment and interest costs. The IPO proceeds would give the business new funding, but the loss figures make execution central to its plans. Vvardis has reported sharp revenue growth over the past year, yet its current sales remain modest relative to its losses.

The United States accounts for 95% of Vvardis turnover, while Switzerland represents 2%. The company’s reliance on the US market makes its distribution network important: a small number of partners sell its product to medical practices. Vvardis says its treatment has potential, but that reach depends on partners continuing to bring it to dental professionals.

Its flagship product, Curodont, is applied to a tooth like a gel. The method is designed to halt and heal early-stage decay without drilling or injections, before further intervention becomes necessary. That approach gives Vvardis a distinct proposition in dental care, and the company is seeking a breakthrough with the treatment as it enters public markets. The challenge is to turn the product’s clinical use into sustained revenue growth. With nearly all turnover coming from the US, Vvardis’s expansion depends heavily on the market where it already has its largest commercial foothold.

The Abivardi sisters plan to retain 87% of Vvardis voting rights after the IPO, despite selling shares to public investors. The listing will include two categories of shares, with Haley and Goly Abivardi controlling the class with greater voting power. That structure leaves the founders in charge of the company’s direction while investors share its financial risks.

The prospectus also lists significant personal borrowing by the sisters. A tranche of $60 million is due for repayment by the end of the year, with a further CHF 35 million due by September 2027. Their shares are held as collateral against personal debt, and the sisters plan to refinance a large portion of that borrowing through new loans. The family came to Switzerland from Iran in the early 1980s after the Islamic Revolution. Haley and Goly later studied dentistry at the University of Zurich, founded Swiss Smile and went on to build Vvardis in canton Zug. Their IPO will test whether investors will back that next chapter on the terms set by its founders.