Cent combines advanced imaging technologies with more than 120 biomarkers and artificial intelligence-based analysis to screen for over 300 potential health conditions in a single visit.
The Bangalore-based health startup Cent, founded by Practo co-founder Shashank ND, has raised USD 5 Mn in seed funding from OneFlow Holdings and venture firm South Park Commons to expand its AI-driven early disease detection platform in India.
Founded by Shashank ND and Arpit Garg, Cent aims to identify risks associated with cancer, cardiac, neurological and metabolic conditions at an early stage. The startup operates through a direct-to-consumer model and offers advanced screening scans designed to detect diseases before symptoms develop.
Cent combines advanced imaging technologies with more than 120 biomarkers and artificial intelligence-based analysis to screen for over 300 potential health conditions in a single visit.
Its proprietary protocol, called CCNM (Cardiac, Cancer, Neurological and Metabolic), integrates whole-body MRI, low-dose CT scans, DEXA scans, ECG testing and blood and urine biomarkers to generate organ-level risk assessments.
“India has built world-class treatment capability, but our healthcare system is still oriented around diseases that have already declared themselves. In the preventive space, we need dedicated infrastructure, the right technology, the right protocols, the right capital, built specifically for detection. That is the gap Cent is designed to close,” said Shashank ND, founder and chair, Cent.
“Five years ago, this level of integrated screening was not technically feasible. The convergence of advanced MRI, AI-assisted radiology, and multi-omics analysis now allows us to screen for 300+ conditions in a single visit and a faster scan time,” said Arpit Garg, co-founder and chief AI and research officer at Cent.
The startup has been operational since the first quarter of FY26 and has completed more than 1,500 scans so far. Cent said that around 26 per cent of these screenings revealed clinically meaningful findings, while about 3-4 per cent identified critical conditions requiring immediate medical attention, often among asymptomatic individuals.
“The bottleneck in early detection has never been intent; it has been the operating model. If you depend on symptom-led referrals and multi-purpose centres, you can’t scale rigour. By designing around one protocol and one workflow, we can drive utilisation, consistency and cost discipline,” said Anshul Khandelwal, co-founder and chief business officer at Cent.
The startup is currently reporting rapid growth and says it is expanding its engineering capabilities and healthcare partnerships following the funding from OneFlow and South Park Commons.
Cent plans to establish specialised early detection centres, beginning with facilities in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi, before expanding into cities such as Pune and Hyderabad.
The startup has set a long-term goal of enabling 10 million scans and contributing to saving one million lives by 2035 by making early disease detection a routine part of healthcare in India.
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