Spotify billionaire’s body scan startup has come to America | TechCrunch
Short summary
Neko Health, a preventative medicine startup co-founded by Spotify's David Ek, just opened in New York after raising nearly $1 billion. The company offers hour-long full-body scans for $500 that analyze blood, skin, and metabolism using AI and computer vision, with a 300,000-person waitlist already in place.
- Neko Health charges $500 per scan and qualifies as an HSA-eligible expense, targeting the U.S. preventative care gap where cost concerns keep adoption low.
- The scan has expanded significantly—from 15 biomarkers to 55—and uses AI-powered computer vision to provide what investors call "actionable insights" rather than just wellness theater.
- The company faces scaling and regulatory hurdles in the U.S. but has secured venture backing and plans nationwide expansion.
Full summary
Neko Health, co-founded by Spotify's David Ek, just opened in New York after building serious momentum in Sweden. The company does full-body health scans for $500 per session—a one-hour appointment that checks blood work, skin condition, and metabolism markers. They've raised nearly $1 billion, have 300,000 people on a waitlist, and aren't covered by insurance, though HSA accounts can pick up the tab. The scan tech has gotten noticeably better; investors who've tried it twice report the biomarker count jumped from 15 to 55.
The real pitch here is preventative medicine for the U.S. market, where most people skip checkups because they're worried about costs and hassle. Farooq Abbasi from Preface Ventures, one of the investors, thinks Neko solves this by making screening accessible and straightforward. He frames it as genuinely useful rather than another wellness gimmick—the scans give people specific data they can actually act on. The company uses AI-powered computer vision to analyze results, which Abbasi sees as part of a broader trend of AI making medical care better.
Neko still faces real hurdles stateside: scaling operations and getting regulatory sign-off. But Abbasi's betting the venture money will follow if the product keeps delivering results, and he's clearly convinced the company isn't broken beyond fixing.