Indian MedTech Startup Periwinkle Takes Rapid AI Cervical Cancer Screening to BRICS

Indian MedTech startup Periwinkle Technologies is bringing its AI-enabled cervical cancer screening platform into the spotlight through the Bharat Innovates deep-tech ecosystem associated with India’s BRICS engagements, showcasing a technology designed to make screening faster, portable and easier to deploy outside major hospitals.

At the centre of the company’s technology is Smart Scope CX, a handheld cervical imaging platform that combines digital imaging with artificial intelligence and telemedicine. The system can provide an AI-assisted risk assessment in under 60 seconds after images are captured, potentially allowing healthcare workers to identify women who require further clinical evaluation much faster than conventional multi-stage screening pathways.

A Screening System Designed for the Point of Care

Smart Scope CX is intended to tackle one of the persistent challenges in cervical cancer prevention: bringing screening closer to women who may have limited access to specialist hospitals, laboratories or gynaecologists.

The portable device captures magnified digital images of the cervix following visual examination using acetic acid and Lugol’s iodine. Its associated software then performs an AI-enabled assessment of the captured images, producing a colour-coded risk indication to support clinical decision-making.

Periwinkle describes the complete screening procedure as taking approximately seven minutes, while the AI component can generate its risk assessment in less than a minute.

The distinction is important. Smart Scope is not claiming to complete every stage of cervical cancer screening in 60 seconds. Rather, artificial intelligence is being used to dramatically shorten the image-assessment and triage stage once the examination has been carried out.

Portable Imaging, AI and Telemedicine in One Platform

Bharat Innovates describes Periwinkle’s system as an AI-enabled cervical cancer screening and triage platform integrating three elements: a portable cervical imaging device, real-time AI-based risk assessment and a cloud-based telemedicine platform through which specialists can remotely review cases.

This allows images collected by trained healthcare workers in smaller clinics or community screening programmes to be stored digitally and, where necessary, examined by doctors located elsewhere.

The approach is particularly useful in areas where specialist medical personnel are scarce.

Government-backed BIRAC also describes Smart Scope as a portable, electricity-free digital examination device that can be operated by a trained nurse or health worker, with captured images available for assessment by specialists remotely.

More Than 450,000 Screenings

Unlike many early-stage medical AI demonstrations, Smart Scope has already moved into substantial real-world deployment.

The Bharat Innovates startup profile records more than 450,000 cervical cancer screenings, along with over 1,000 user sites across three continents. Periwinkle has separately stated that the technology has screened more than 450,000 women across five countries.

Periwinkle Technologies was founded in 2013 by Veena Moktali and Koustubh Naik and is based in Maharashtra.

Its Smart Scope CX platform has also cleared an important international regulatory hurdle. U.S. Food and Drug Administration records show that Smart Scope CX received 510(k) clearance on June 14, 2024, as a colposcope-class device after being found substantially equivalent to an existing legally marketed device.

Indian AI Targeting a Global Health Challenge

The technology has attracted increasing attention within India’s emerging healthcare-AI ecosystem.

In February 2026, Smart Scope CX received an AI by HER Award at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, recognising its application of artificial intelligence to women’s healthcare. Periwinkle has emphasised that the technology is designed to work within real clinical and public-health systems rather than functioning merely as an experimental AI model.

Its inclusion in the Bharat Innovates 2026 cohort placed it among 120 Indian deep-tech ventures selected to represent the country’s innovation ecosystem internationally. The cohort covers frontier sectors ranging from semiconductors and quantum technology to biotechnology, space, advanced manufacturing and healthcare.

Periwinkle earlier showcased Smart Scope CX at Bharat Innovates in Nice, France, in June 2026, presenting the technology to investors, healthcare organisations and international innovation partners.

From Indian MedTech to Global Public Health

The larger opportunity for technologies such as Smart Scope lies in reducing the dependence of cervical cancer screening programmes on sophisticated laboratories and specialist infrastructure.

A portable system that combines imaging, digital records, AI-supported triage and remote medical consultation could enable screening programmes to extend deeper into rural and underserved areas while allowing specialists to concentrate on women identified as being at greater risk.

That does not replace doctors, pathology or confirmatory diagnostic procedures. Instead, the technology is intended to help healthcare systems screen and triage larger populations more efficiently.

Periwinkle’s presence within India’s Bharat Innovates deep-tech push therefore represents something broader than a single medical device. It illustrates how India’s emerging MedTech companies are combining low-cost hardware, artificial intelligence and connected healthcare to build technologies designed not only for the domestic market but also for public-health systems across the developing world.

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