Healthtech startup Cent, founded by Shashank ND along with Arpit Garg, formerly of Lenskart, and Anshul Khandelwal, previously associated with Ola Electric, has secured an undisclosed investment from OneFlow Holdings, the family office of Shashank ND, and venture firm South Park Commons. The funding will help the company develop and scale its artificial intelligence-powered early disease detection platform.
Khandelwal, the cofounder and chief business officer of the healthtech startup, explained the startup’s focus and said, “Unlike most preventive healthcare services, we are solely focused on early detection of life-threatening diseases such as cancer and cardiac and metabolic conditions that comprise about 70–74% of deaths globally.”
Moreover, he clarified that the company follows a direct-to-consumer model. He stated, “Most healthcare companies in India are B2B, selling services to hospitals, insurers, or corporates. Our revenue comes directly from consumers. We do not earn commissions from hospitals, doctors, or insurers.”
The Bengaluru-based company began operations in the first quarter of FY26. Since then, the startup has completed more than 1,500 diagnostic scans, according to the company’s statement.
Additionally, the healthtech startup revealed that around 26% of these scans identified clinically meaningful findings. Furthermore, nearly 3–4% of the scans detected critical medical conditions such as cancer or severe heart blockages that required immediate treatment, even though the individuals showed no visible symptoms.
The founding team drew inspiration for the venture from personal experiences. Both Khandelwal and Shashank lost family members to cancer, and therefore they examined why medical professionals often detect serious illnesses at late stages despite significant advancements in medical technology.
Shashank explained the vision behind the company and said, “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.”
The company built its platform around a proprietary screening protocol called CCNM, which stands for cardiac, cancer, neurological, and metabolic health. The system integrates full-body MRI scans, cardiac CT scans, ECG testing, DEXA scans, more than 120 blood and urine biomarkers, and genomic testing. Subsequently, artificial intelligence processes this extensive medical data, while radiologists and specialists review the results to generate a comprehensive organ-level health report.
Khandelwal further explained that the system produces a detailed 60–70 page diagnostic report that assigns a health score to each organ in the body.
At the same time, he pointed out that investors increasingly show interest in this healthcare segment because non-communicable diseases continue to rise globally, and artificial intelligence holds strong potential to transform diagnostic systems. He also highlighted that healthcare spending in India currently accounts for around 3% of the country’s GDP, which remains significantly lower than the spending levels seen in developed economies.
To evaluate the performance of its technology, the healthtech startup uses a proprietary metric known as the Early Detection Index (EDI). The company reports an EDI score of approximately 83%, whereas traditional annual health checkups typically achieve detection rates of only about 15–20%.
Meanwhile, the company has maintained strong growth momentum. Cent currently records around 50% month-on-month growth and has already reached an annualised revenue run rate of nearly $2 million.
With the newly secured investment, the company plans to launch dedicated early detection centres across major Indian cities. The first facility will open in Bengaluru in April, after which the company will expand to Mumbai, Delhi, and Hyderabad.
Khandelwal also outlined the company’s future funding strategy and said, “We expect the series A (growth-stage) to be roughly five to six times the size of the seed (early-stage) round, which will help us scale our network of early detection centres and also begin international expansion.”
Additionally, the startup continues to collaborate with global imaging equipment manufacturers in order to deploy and optimise advanced diagnostic technologies such as MRI systems specifically designed for preventive screening.
As the burden of non-communicable diseases continues to rise, the healtech startup seeks to enable earlier detection of life-threatening conditions and improve long-term health outcomes. With fresh funding and ambitious expansion plans, Cent is positioning itself as a key player in the rapidly evolving AI-driven health diagnostics ecosystem.
