Neko Health, the body-scanning startup founded by Spotify’s Daniel Ek, is preparing to enter the U.S. market after securing $700 million in fresh funding from a roster of celebrity and tech investor heavyweights. The company plans to open its first American clinic in New York City later this year, with a broader national rollout to follow. The round was backed by names including musician will.i.am, tennis star Maria Sharapova, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, and former soccer player Thierry Henry. Existing investors such as Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian and actor Zoë Saldaña also participated. Neko did not disclose its valuation, but the Financial Times reported it at roughly $7 billion.
Neko operates private clinics that offer full-body scans and blood tests, powered by custom-built medical equipment and AI. The scans are designed to detect conditions like skin cancer, heart disease, and diabetes early, with the goal of shifting medicine from reactive treatment to proactive prevention. The company says it has already scanned more than 100,000 people across eight clinics in the UK and Sweden, with over 350,000 on waitlists. Pricing for scans is currently £299 in the UK and 2,750 Swedish kronor in Sweden—roughly $400 and $285—though U.S. pricing has not been announced. A waitlist for the New York location is now open on Neko’s website.
Cofounder and CEO Hjalmar Nilsonne said the funding will help bring the company’s mission to the U.S. for the first time, starting with New York and other cities this year. The company declined to specify additional locations or a detailed timeline. The capital will also support research and development into technologies Nilsonne said could make prevention viable at a large scale. Neko, founded in 2018 but only publicly launching in 2023, is part of a growing wave of preventive care startups capitalizing on rising interest in longevity and the shortcomings of traditional healthcare systems that often wait for symptoms to emerge before acting.
Source: The Verge