Cent launches AI-led platform for early detection of cancer, heart risk

Founded by Practo's Shashank ND with Arpit Garg and Anshul Khandelwal, Cent combines advanced imaging, 120+ biomarkers and AI to detect cancer and cardiac risks before symptoms appear

Cent, a preventive health intelligence company focused on the early detection of life-threatening diseases before symptoms appear, announced its launch following several months of live operations and rapid market traction.

 

The company was founded by Shashank ND (founder and chief executive officer, Practo) along with co-founders Arpit Garg and Anshul Khandelwal. The clinical team is led by Dr Nandakumar, chief radiologist. Together, the founding team brings deep experience across healthcare platforms, consumer technology, AI, and clinical radiology.

 

Cent has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from OneFlow Holdings (Shashank’s family office) and South Park Commons.

 

“Cent is personal for me. In 2024, I lost three people from my family and close circle to stage 4 cancer. In each case, the disease had progressed silently, without any symptoms, until it was too late. That experience made it impossible to look away. India has built world-class treatment capability, but our healthcare system is still oriented around disease that has already declared itself. In the preventive space, we need dedicated infrastructure, the right technology, the right protocols, the right capital, built specifically for detection,” said Shashank ND, founder and chair, Cent. “That is the gap Cent is designed to close. What makes this moment extraordinary is AI. We can now detect cancer and cardiac conditions in asymptomatic people far earlier than ever before, while reducing false positives and false negatives. We are at a point where we can find issues long before they demand serious intervention. If we change when disease is found, we change outcomes. That is what we are here to do.”

 

 

Cancer and cardiovascular disease are India’s two largest killers, together responsible for nearly one in every two premature deaths. India now records over 1.5 million new cancer cases annually, yet approximately 70 per cent are diagnosed at Stage III or IV, when five-year survival rates fall below 30 per cent for most cancer types. In addition, India accounts for over one-fifth of all global cardiovascular deaths, with the average first heart attack striking at age 53, a decade earlier than in Western populations. While treatment capabilities have improved significantly, systematic early detection for individuals who feel healthy remains fragmented and largely absent.

 

Cent is positioning itself not as a diagnostic chain or wellness service, but as a preventive health intelligence platform that combines advanced imaging, over 120 biomarkers, and AI-powered synthesis to detect cancer, cardiac, neurological, and metabolic risk in people who show no symptoms. The company operates direct-to-consumer, upstream of traditional physician-led diagnostic pathways.

 

“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-plus conditions in a single visit with a faster scan time,” said Arpit Garg, co-founder and chief AI and research officer, Cent.

 

Cent has been operational since Q1 FY26 and has already completed more than 1,500 scans. According to the company, 26 per cent of these revealed clinically meaningful findings, with 4 per cent identifying critical conditions requiring immediate medical attention. The majority of individuals scanned were asymptomatic at the time. People who felt perfectly healthy. These findings reflect a structural difference in outcome. Cent's Early Detection Index (EDI) — a measure of how many conditions are identified accurately at an actionable, pre-symptomatic stage — stands at 83 per cent, compared to 15–20 per cent for conventional annual health check-ups.

 

The company is on track to complete 50,000 scans this year, driven by capacity expansion and growing consumer demand.

 

Cent is building a network of single-purpose centres optimised around one standardised detection workflow. The first set of dedicated centres is expected to roll out beginning April 2026 across Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru, followed by additional expansion including Pune and Hyderabad. Cent has articulated a long-term ambition of enabling 10 million scans and contributing to one million lives saved by 2035.