Cent, the new health-tech venture founded by Practo co-founder Shashank ND, has raised $5 million in seed funding to accelerate its AI-powered platform for early disease detection. The round will fuel expansion of its non-invasive screening models, clinical validation studies, multilingual outreach, and partnerships with hospitals and diagnostic chains aiming to make proactive, affordable risk assessment widely accessible across India.
Glimpse:
The $5 million seed round, announced on January 27, 2026, was led by early stage investors with strong participation from prominent angels and health tech funds. Cent’s AI platform analyses multimodal inputs (voice, facial biomarkers, lifestyle data, and basic vitals) to generate personalised risk scores for diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, respiratory issues, and nutritional deficiencies delivering results in minutes without blood tests or clinic visits. The capital will support larger scale pilots, regulatory clearances, and rollout to tier-2/3 cities and rural areas.
Cent, the latest venture from Practo co-founder and former CEO Shashank ND, has secured $5 million in seed funding to rapidly scale its AI-first platform for early, non-invasive disease risk detection. The round, closed in mid-January 2026, drew strong interest from a mix of health-tech focused venture funds, strategic angels, and family offices betting on the next wave of preventive healthcare in India.
Cent’s core technology uses smartphone-based inputs voice analysis, facial biomarkers (skin tone, sclera, micro-expressions), basic vitals from connected devices or manual entry, and user-reported lifestyle factors to generate instant, personalised risk profiles for high-burden conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, respiratory disorders, anaemia, and vitamin deficiencies. The AI models, trained on large-scale Indian datasets, deliver colour-coded risk scores, plain-language explanations, and tailored recommendations for lifestyle changes, follow-up tests, or specialist consultations all within 3–5 minutes.
Shashank ND, who stepped down from Practo in 2024 after building it into India’s leading digital health platform, launched Cent to tackle the massive gap in early detection. “Most Indians only discover chronic diseases after complications have set in,” he said. “Cent changes that by making proactive screening fast, affordable, and accessible using nothing more than a smartphone.”
The funding will be used to:
- Expand the dataset and refine models for greater accuracy across diverse Indian populations
- Conduct large-scale clinical validation studies with hospitals and diagnostic chains
- Build multilingual (Hindi, regional languages) and voice-first interfaces for low-literacy users
- Scale partnerships with primary care clinics, corporate wellness programmes, and insurers
- Pursue CDSCO and ICMR approvals for broader clinical and preventive use
Cent’s approach has already shown strong early traction in pilot deployments, with users reporting high satisfaction, quick follow-through on flagged risks, and significant uptake among middle and lower middle income households. The platform integrates with ABDM/ABHA for secure record portability and future linkage to lab results or doctor consultations.
The round reflects renewed investor enthusiasm for preventive and AI-first healthtech in India, especially solutions that address the country’s massive chronic disease burden without relying on expensive diagnostics or specialist visits.
“Prevention should be as easy as checking your phone. Cent makes early disease detection simple, instant, and affordable empowering millions to act before illness takes hold.”
By
HB Team
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