The brand now sells oral health products from toothbrushes and toothpaste to bad-breath kits. The company, which had a turnover of around €19m in its last financial year, has grown from five employees to nearly 60 over the past 18 months.

Vanessa Creaven, CEO of the company, says Spotlight’s success was beyond her expectations.

“Spotlight from the start has been on quite a strong trajectory,” Vanessa says. “When we initially launched the product, we thought we would just sell it in our practices — then we set up a website.

“Really, within the first year, we had grown to just under €1m turnover without very much strategic thought.

“It was exciting; there was lots of juggling and working between patients and launch and evenings. We were still full-time dentists.”

The thought of selling the teeth-whitening strips from their Galway practice soon changed when it caught the attention of several so-called influencers on Instagram. The brand grew substantially.

Spotlight now sells its oral health care products across several international markets, including the US via high-profile retailers Ulta Beauty, CVS, and Target.

Lisa Creaven, the chief marketing officer , feels the brand’s success across the globe has come about by targeting a neglected space in grocery retail. Oral care is dominated by a handful of mass-market brands, such as Colgate or Sensodyne, that she feels could do with brushing up on what many consumers want.

“The oral care industry hasn’t innovated in any meaningful way for 30 years,” she says. “If you look at what is available, as a dentist, what I see is a huge disconnection from what I know to be true as a dentist and a professional and what is available to buy in a supermarket or pharmacy.

“We believe there is a clear space for clean products that have active ingredients and are sustainable and targeted to your individual needs.”

The sisters’ mission to create an oral health brand to challenge the titans has caught the attention of investors. It has laid down the gauntlet to the giant competitors by positioning itself as a “beauty brand for teeth”.

Last month, Spotlight announced it had secured a €12m investment from Irish fund manager Development Capital to help expand in Europe and the US. And last year, it landed an investment of €3m from financier Dermot Desmond’s IIU Fund to support its entry into the US market.

Speaking of the more recent investment, Vanessa says Spotlight caught the eye of some investors through its growth over the Covid period.

“We were fortunate enough to have a number of term sheets offered to us,” she says. “Really, at that point, it was less about the valuation of the company and more about who do we see as our partners long term.

“Lisa and I often jokingly refer to bringing on an investor as like going into a marriage. Really you need to take into account not only the valuation, the money and the benefits, but what they can do — do you have the same beliefs and values, can they really help grow the company with you, and will they be there on the good and the bad days?”

Grabbing the attention of deep-pocketed investors wasn’t always high on the agenda for the Creaven sisters. The duo grew up on their father Jim’s farm in Corrandulla, Co Galway, with mother Margaret, older brother Paul and sister Alma. They both credit the farm with instilling an appreciation of hard work.

“We always worked,” says Lisa. “I was always dying to start working. I had a job from when I was 13.

“I worked in waitressing, petrol stations, factories, and many different types of businesses as a teenager. I just always liked it.”

From that motivation to work, Lisa eventually decided to leave Galway and go to Trinity College Dublin to become a dentist. In 2007, she qualified and worked at a practice. Then, in 2010, she set up her own in Galway city called Quay Dental.

“I wanted to create a practice that I wanted to avail of,” says Lisa.

Her career choice proved inspirational, with all four of the Creaven siblings studying the subject. This included Vanessa, who also went off to Trinity to earn her stripes in dentistry.

“I always make the joke, you are too busy studying for your Leaving Cert actually to think of what you want to do, so I just put down what my older siblings did and thought ‘Well it must be okay’,” she says with a laugh.

“Vanessa is probably one of the hardest-working people I know,” Lisa says. “She finished top of her class in dentistry, which is a very hard thing to achieve. I did not finish top of my class in dentistry.”

Vanessa worked as a dentist in Dublin before moving home to Galway and going into partnership with Lisa at her practice. While both admit they don’t always agree on everything, they agree being family and in business has been beneficial.

“I think it is great to work with your sibling because you always have that implicit trust in each other,” says Vanessa. “They really look out for your best interests.”

With the dentist practice flourishing, the Creaven sisters, alongside Buckley, made a wise move. They started selling Spotlight teeth-whitening strips in 2016, having noticed that many patients were looking for options at home.

Within a year, it became clear Spotlight was on to a winner. It soon landed its first retail listings in Ireland before growing into the UK, Norway, Finland and the Middle East.

Not long afterwards, Spotlight took a massive step by launching itself into the US market.

Vanessa says the experience of launching in the US was one of her proudest moments, but it was not without challenges. A launch in the US can take two years, with retailers also working to a 12 to 18 months roll-out plan for brands — longer than in other locations.

The company started by partnering with high-profile retailer Ulta.

Since it first launched with Ulta, it has grown from having listings in 100 stores to 1,200 — the US retailer’s entire store count — across its whole product range.

With the €12m investment in tow, Lisa and Vanessa are getting ready to focus on Spotlight’s international expansion. Over the next three to five years, the Creavens aim to keep the strong growth going and develop deeper roots and relationships in the markets where Spotlight already has a presence, particularly in the US.

“We can often be guilty of underplaying just how big and vast the US market is,” says Vanessa.

“The distribution is there. It’s just about building out that brand awareness and partnering with those retailers, so more of their customers and guests are aware of Spotlight, know what we stand for and are becoming customers themselves.”

Lisa adds: “Most brands would pick one major retailer.

"They pick one major retailer to align with and be best in class in that retailer. That’s our real goal.”

With substantial growth plans on the horizon, both Lisa and Vanessa know there will be challenges to tackle along the way.

Vanessa points out that freight is a huge issue currently and affects the movement of stock worldwide.

She also believes forecasting growth and scaling the business could become more complex.

Lisa, who admits to being more cautious than her sister, points out the importance of not expanding into new markets too quickly.

“We have to kind of stop ourselves from just saying, ‘Oh, let’s expand here’,” she says.

“We want to grow the company steadily. We have had huge growth, but it is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the US.

"We have to make sure that we are growing ourselves sustainably, and we have all the logistical things that come with being in Ireland, the UK and the US. We are only just beginning in the US — to my mind. We have a huge amount to go there.”

While international expansion might be important, the key to Spotlight’s continued success is disrupting the oral care sector.

Spotlight has continually innovated and never rested on the success of its initial teeth-whitening product.

It has since launched a range of toothpastes specialised to consumers’ individual needs — including one formulated for pregnancy — toothbrushes and kits for bad breath. Spotlight also decided to use sustainable inputs for its product lines, developing fully recyclable toothpaste tubes.

“Innovation is at the core of what we do,” says Vanessa.

“Our products are best in class, and they work for our patients. That is what we are proudest of.”

Looking ahead, the Creaven sisters, who both recently gave birth, are optimistic about the future of Spotlight.

The company is now well established in Ireland and is expecting considerable growth in the UK and US.

With continued insight from their dentist chair in Galway, the Creavens believe they can drill into their growth plans and continue to shine.

“We have nothing to hide,” says Lisa. “We have taken our knowledge as dentists and put that into products that are understandable and easy to figure out how to use. If we keep our focus on creating really good products and value for our customers, we aren’t going to go too far wrong.”

“The oral care industry is changing,” says Vanessa. “And we are seeing that change and living through that change right now.

“The big players in skincare 20 or 30 years ago are not the big players today,” she adds. “We are excited to see what happens in the oral care industry.” 

Business Lessons

What would you say to any budding entrepreneurs starting out on their journey now?

Vanessa – It is not always about being the smartest in the room, but getting the best team around you that have the skillsets in their unique areas to help you. Also, having the most grit. Being able to work hard means you can overcome most things.

What advice would you give to those looking to enter the US market?

Lisa – Plan ahead!

Vanessa – I would also say be strategic on how you launch. Don’t just try and pick five retailers. Pick one strong retailer and then launch with them. You need to really know where your white space sits and what you are targetting.