Founded in 2023 by Issac John and Rahul Krishnan, who met during an Antler residency programme, the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered, neuroscience-based cognitive screening platform positions itself as a preventive health layer for the brain — an area that remains largely untracked in routine healthcare.
“Today, if you do a full-body health checkup, you get detailed reports on liver function, cardiovascular markers, and more, but nothing on cognition. That’s the gap we address,” John told ET.
The startup provides cognitive assessments that measure functions such as attention, memory, and executive function, offering users a baseline score benchmarked to age and gender, along with a breakdown across multiple cognitive skills and actionable recommendations.
Ivory has raised $1 million in fresh funding from Draper Associates and SAGE Venture Fund. The round also saw participation from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) (a selection partner for startups) and managed by IFCI Venture, a subsidiary of IFCI Limited and the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).
The capital will be used to strengthen its product stack, expand clinical capabilities, and build intellectual property around cognitive screening. The investment comes amid growing institutional interest in preventive health platforms targeting large-scale, real-world impact.
“Our goal is to make cognitive testing a routine part of healthcare, starting as early as the 40s. Today, most people seek help only when symptoms become severe, which limits intervention,” Krishnan said. “If we can bring cognitive screening into preventive care, we can potentially delay or reduce the incidence of serious conditions like dementia.”
The company has partnered with Metropolis Healthcare to integrate its assessments into preventive health packages and is in discussions with multiple diagnostic chains, insurers, and corporate wellness platforms. It is also working with longevity and performance-focussed platforms such as Ultrahuman.
“The broader idea is to embed cognitive assessment across different healthcare touchpoints — diagnostics, insurance, corporate wellness, and even sleep and longevity programmes,” John said.
Ivory said its tools are designed to help clinicians differentiate between early cognitive decline and temporary, lifestyle-driven issues such as brain fog, stress, or poor sleep, as it looks to shift from subjective, questionnaire-based assessments to objective, data-driven measurement.
The startup is building clinically validated tools using a mix of digital markers and voice-based biomarkers, with ongoing trials in hospital settings to establish baseline datasets.
John said the target market includes an estimated 30–35 million people in India who may have mild cognitive impairment, based on global prevalence ratios. “But beyond that, our market includes anyone engaging in preventive healthcare. India sees around 140–150 million diagnostic tests annually, and about 15–20% of these are preventive in nature. That’s a significant entry point for us,” he said.
The company has raised about $2.5 million to date and gained visibility after appearing on Shark Tank India last year. It counts IIM-A Ventures, Capital A, 1Crowd, TDV Partners, and Stanford Angels among its investors.
Anish Babu, managing director at IFCI Venture, said, “Ivory is addressing a significant unmet need in cognitive health through a clinically grounded and technology-led approach. We are seeing strong momentum in startups building for preventive healthcare and large-scale health impact.”