Practo Founder, Former Lenskart and Ola Executives Raise $5 Million for Preventive Healthcare Startup Cent

India’s healthcare ecosystem has long been celebrated for its treatment capabilities—advanced hospitals, skilled doctors, and world-class procedures. Yet one critical gap has persisted: detecting diseases before they become serious. A new startup founded by some of the country’s most experienced health-tech and consumer-tech leaders now wants to change that equation.

In a significant early move, preventive healthcare startup Cent has raised about $5 million in seed funding from South Park Commons and OneFlow Holdings, according to people familiar with the development. The startup brings together an experienced founding team including Shashank ND, founder and CEO of Practo; Arpit Garg, former head of product at Lenskart; and Anshul Khandelwal, former marketing chief and product lead at Ola Electric.

The funding marks the official launch of Cent, which aims to build an AI-led platform focused on early detection of major health risks, including cancer, cardiac conditions, neurological disorders, and metabolic diseases—often before any symptoms appear.

A Startup Built Around Early Detection

Launched on March 6, Cent is positioning itself as a technology-driven preventive healthcare platform designed to identify diseases at the earliest possible stage. The company’s name itself reflects its long-term vision.

“Cent” is derived from “Century,” representing the founders’ ambition to help people live healthier lives up to 100 years and beyond.

At its core, the Bengaluru-based startup combines advanced medical imaging, biomarker analysis, and artificial intelligence to screen for a wide range of health conditions in a single visit. According to the company, the platform integrates more than 120 biomarkers with imaging technologies and AI-driven interpretation to detect over 300 potential health conditions.

Strong Early Traction

Though founded in 2025, Cent has already begun operations and claims to be gaining early momentum. The startup has been operational since the first quarter of FY26 and has completed over 1,500 scans so far.

The early data points highlight the potential of preventive screening. Cent said that:

• 26% of scans revealed clinically meaningful findings, and

• 4% identified critical conditions requiring immediate medical attention

Notably, many of these cases involved individuals who had no visible symptoms at the time of testing, underscoring the value of early detection.

Shashank ND believes that India’s healthcare system still heavily focuses on treating diseases after they emerge, rather than identifying risks beforehand.

“India has built world-class treatment capability, but our healthcare system is still oriented around disease that has already declared itself,” he said. “In the preventive space, we need dedicated infrastructure, the right technology, the right protocols, and the right capital built specifically for detection. That is the gap Cent is designed to close.”

A Comprehensive Screening Protocol

Cent’s approach revolves around a proprietary screening protocol called CCNM, which stands for Cardiac, Cancer, Neurological, and Metabolic detection.

The protocol combines multiple diagnostic tools into a single workflow, including:

• Whole-body MRI scans

• Low-dose CT scans

• DEXA scans

• ECG tests

• Extensive blood and urine biomarker analysis

All the data generated from these tests is then processed using AI-driven analysis, producing detailed organ-level risk assessments that are followed by clinical consultation.

According to co-founder Arpit Garg, advances in technology have finally made such integrated screening possible.

“Five years ago, this level of integrated screening was not technically feasible,” Garg said. “The convergence of advanced MRI, AI-assisted radiology, and multi-omics analysis now allows us to screen for more than 300 conditions in a single visit with a faster scan time.”

Rapid Growth and Revenue Milestone

Despite being at an early stage, Cent says it is already seeing strong growth. The startup claims it is currently growing at around 50% month-on-month and has reached an annualised revenue run rate of approximately $2 million.

With fresh funding and growing demand for preventive health diagnostics, the company now plans to significantly scale its screening capacity.

Cent aims to complete 50,000 scans this year as it expands operations.

Building Dedicated Detection Centres

A key part of Cent’s strategy is building single-purpose detection centres, designed specifically for preventive screening rather than general healthcare services.

The first set of facilities is expected to roll out starting April 2026 across Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru, followed by expansion into Pune and Hyderabad.

According to co-founder Anshul Khandelwal, designing specialised centres focused entirely on early detection will help overcome operational inefficiencies often seen in traditional healthcare setups.

“The bottleneck in early detection has never been intent; it has been the operating model,” Khandelwal said. “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.”

A Long-Term Vision for Preventive Healthcare

While the startup is currently focused on building its early detection infrastructure, its long-term ambitions are much bigger.

Cent aims to conduct 10 million scans and contribute to saving one million lives by 2035, as it works to make preventive screening a more mainstream part of India’s healthcare ecosystem.

The company did not comment publicly on the funding size.

However, with a founding team that has previously built large-scale technology platforms across healthcare, consumer tech, and mobility, Cent’s entry signals growing momentum in AI-powered preventive healthcare—a sector that many believe could transform how diseases are detected and managed in the future.