Priya, a marketing executive in Mumbai, wanted straight teeth. So when she got a red box from a startup called Toothsi in February last year, she was delighted. For Rs 50,000, roughly a quarter of what Invisalign—a similar brand from the US—would charge, she was promised a set of clear aligners delivered to her doorstep, custom-made to fix her smile, and, importantly, no orthodontist appointments. Just her, some dental goo, and the charm of D2C healthcare.

This was the easy part: send in some impressions of her teeth and wait for the aligners to arrive. But before she could even put the dental moulds in the mail, she got a call.

Toothsi, she was told, had already rejected her impressions. The ones she hadn’t yet sent. But not to worry—they could still proceed. Only if she coughs up Rs 11,000 as a down payment for a 3D scan at one of their centres.

“I asked them how they could reject something I hadn’t even mailed yet,” Priya recalled. “They gave me some excuse about some ‘pre-assessment’, but it was clear they were just trying to get me to pay more money quickly.” She didn’t want to be addressed by her full name.

The experience, she would soon discover, was not hers alone. Dozens of similar complaints have surfacedRedditToothsi Scam across consumer forums, review sites, and social media. Most tell variations of the same story: an affordable entry point, followed by opaque diagnostics, surprise charges, and hurried upselling.

All of this is brought to you by MakeO—the parent company of both Toothsi and its dermatology cousin, Skinnsi. MakeO’s entire premise is convenience, repackaged as medical-grade innovation. And for a while, that was enough.

In January, the company raised funds at a valuation of Rs 2,231 crore (~$270 million). Less than six months later, it is reportedly seeking capital at half that figureEntrackrExclusive: Toothsi parent MakeO set to raise fresh funds.

Its situation echoes that of an older, better-known name in Indian digital health: Pharmeasy. The e-pharmacy startup, which once courted investors at a $5.6 billion valuation, is now worthEntrackrPharmEasy valuation slashed to $458 Mn by Janus Henderson just $450 million, and has had to withdraw its IPO plans amid mounting losses and integration stumbles.