Developing comprehensive screening for early-stage cancer is key to saving more lives.
Although multi-cancer early detection (MCED) tests are still being researched and lack FDA approval, several tests are commercially available to consumers who are willing to pay out-of-pocket. Individuals can ask their doctor to order it gallery Blood tests from Grail, or they can opt for a whole-body MRI from companies like Prenuvo or Ezra, which often cost $2,000 or more.
Soon, consumers will have another — rather unique — way to screen for many types of cancer.
SpotitEarly, a biotech company that is part of the Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, is developing a home cancer test that analyzes human breath using dogs’ extraordinary sense of smell combined with AI.
Shlomi Madar, CEO of SpotEarly, told TechCrunch that the science is becoming increasingly clear: Dogs can be trained to sniff out diseases in humans, and cancer in particular. “There are also ad-hoc reports of people mentioning that their companion dogs knew something was wrong with them before they even knew,” she said.
Leveraging his 15 years of experience as a health and biotech leader, Madar enlisted three friends – one of whom is a former K9 unit commander – to develop a reliable method and technology for cancer screening by analyzing breath samples.
Users can test for cancer at home by collecting a breath sample and sending it to SpotitEarly’s laboratory. The company employs 18 trained beagles to recognize cancer-specific odors. The dogs are taught to sit if they smell cancer particles, and SpotitEarly’s AI platform validates the dogs’ behavior.
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“We have cameras at the top of the lab. We have a microphone that captures the dogs’ breathing patterns. We also monitor their heart rates. So basically, machine learning knows the baseline of the entire dog pack,” Madar said. “That’s what makes it more accurate than a handler watching the dog.”
Company research, published in nature scientific reportsshowed that its trained dogs could detect early cancer in breath samples with 94% accuracy. That double-blind clinical study, which included 1,400 individuals, focused on examining the four most common cancers: breast, colorectal, prostate and lung.
SpotitEarly, which was founded in Israel in 2020, announced its launch in the US market in May with $20.3 million in funding from Hanako VC, Menomedin VC, Jeff Schwartz (former CEO of Timberland), and Avishai Abrahami (CEO of Wix.com).
The company plans to use the capital to significantly expand its clinical studies, starting with individual trials for breast cancer before moving on to the other three targeted cancers.
SpotEarly’s home screening kit should be available to consumers through its network of physicians next year, Madar said. A cancer test will cost about $250, he said, and each additional cancer screened will cost a fraction of the first test. To prioritize access, the company aims to keep the price of its multi-cancer panel lower than the cost of competitors like Grail’s Galeri test, which typically runs about $950.
As far as the dogs are concerned, Madar said they are part of the team. All company employees must be “dog people,” Madar said. “We don’t just use them as biosensors. They have a lot of room to play. They’re great sneakers, great workers, but also great companions.”
If you want to learn first-hand from SpotEarly, and want to see dozens of additional pitches, participate in valuable workshops, and make connections that drive business results, To learn more about this year’s disruption, go hereTaking place October 27 to 29 in San Francisco.
