Why we invested in Cent

When we checked in today, this is how the numbers stacked up:

▪️ 10000+ scans, 90% capacity utilisation 
▪️12 TB of multimodal health data captured of asymptomatic healthy individuals 
▪️ 1.3B data points captured per member 
▪️ 1 in 40 found critical which needs immediate medical attention 
▪️ 1 in 4 found with major conditions which need monitoring

This is Cent AI. Every one of these metrics has multiplied over 2x since we first met with Shashank earlier this year. We can rest our case on the potential to be unlocked just here, but let’s dive in a bit more. 

While we manage spreadsheets, family, and social obligations with dedication, we seldom treat our health with equal attention. Most people check their health only when symptoms arise, often too late for intervention.

At Blume, our 10+ year track record of investing into preventive health now looks like a healthy obsession. The journey started with HealthifyMe, BeatO, and Tricog. We then doubled down with Ultrahuman and FOXO and in the current fund, we are now pleased to add Mave and Cent. 

We’ve witnessed these companies, individually and sometimes collaboratively impacting millions of lives with their products and services. 

Even those who exercise and monitor their diet, face stealthy, fast-progressing lifestyle conditions. Constructing a comprehensive testing routine remains difficult. Ultimately, most diagnostic testing focuses on reacting to illness rather than preventive care.

There do exist certain boutique diagnostic centres that provide a more curated, preventive-focused offering. They typically employ expensive machines and lack scalability, making them not only less accessible but also prohibitively expensive.

Cent aims to solve for everyone by bringing these scans to wider populations at an accessible price. Preventive imaging helps address most of the symptoms of poor health awareness listed above. And then, the data sets from imaging unlock immense research potential.

Shashank is one of the few founders in the country who has bravely built the long Practo journey against the odds. While he systematically brought solutions to the entire healthcare ecosystem at Practo, his biggest empathetic quotient was always with the patients. When a sudden spurt of critical health setbacks amongst family and friends surprised and shocked him, despite visiting some of the best diagnostic centers in the country, he decided that finding a better solution is non-negotiable for him. It has now translated into a crusade to find early detection and diagnostic mechanisms for the two big silent killers — cancer and cardiac failure. That was the beginning of the Cent journey. 

Anshul Khandelwal and Arpit Garg bring in their Lenskart, Ola, and Upgrad experiences to complement Shashank’s vision. What we loved most about the team is knowing that healthcare is a trust business, that these centers need to be omnipresent geographically, that the knowledge from the data will compound over the years and the boundaries of India are only in the imagination. We loved the vision of building the best diagnostic centers for anyone who needs it in the densest cities on the planet.

Cent started with its first centre in Bangalore. The Bombay centre opened in May and was doing around 400 scans a month soon after. The demand is high and is coming in from all parts of the country. For a business that is capital intensive, we find Cent already at the cusp of finding the ideal capital structure and partners to scale rapidly and it is clear that it’s a race to amplify supply. 

Cent wants to be in control of the entire patient experience and build a history with each of them. Our calls with Cent’s customers showed us that there is a compelling demand from both patients who are at risk but with no indications of any illness, as well as those who want to monitor medical conditions periodically. In the age of AI, longevity and health will find many indicators to be measured and we think independent centres like Cent’s will be the best places to do so. 

Even as we moved from the first meeting to understanding the founding team, its purpose and its execution power, the business has 2x’ed. We expect that Cent will be able to pursue the same momentum while not losing sight of center profitability to build a formidable business and the best partner for its patients and their families.