Neko Health’s $700M US Launch: Is Daniel Ek’s Body Scan Worth It

TL;DR

• Neko Health has officially launched in the US after a massive $700 million raise, pushing its valuation past $4 billion and funding flagship clinics in New York and the Bay Area.
• For $1,095, members get a 60-minute, AI-powered full-body scan that maps skin, heart, metabolism and blood biomarkers, with results delivered in-app in under an hour.
• Investors are betting preventative care is the next trillion-dollar category, but Neko faces stiff competition from Function Health’s $499 lab-first model and Prenuvo-style MRI scanners, plus questions about FDA clearance and real clinical value.

THE SPOTIFY PLAYBOOK, BUT FOR YOUR BODY

Daniel Ek conquered music with Spotify. Now he wants to conquer healthcare.

Neko Health, the Swedish preventative health startup Ek co-founded with Hjalmar Nilsonne in 2018, has officially arrived in America. The company confirmed this month it has closed a $700 million Series C to scale across the US, opening its first American flagship in Manhattan’s SoHo, with San Francisco and Boston slated for early 2027.

It’s one of the largest health-tech raises of the year, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from Atomico, General Catalyst, and Ek’s own family office. The round values Neko at over $4 billion, making it Europe’s most valuable longevity startup by far.

The pitch is simple and seductive: for people tired of 7-minute doctor visits and reactive sick-care, Neko offers a fast, futuristic, full-body checkup that finds problems before symptoms appear.

Americans are clearly curious. Neko says more than 200,000 people joined its US waitlist before launch, echoing the frenzy it saw in Stockholm and London where appointments sold out for months.

HOW NEKO’S BODY SCAN ACTUALLY WORKS

Walk into Neko’s SoHo clinic and it doesn’t feel like a doctor’s office. It feels like an Apple Store crossed with a spaceship.

The core experience is a 60-minute, non-invasive scan in what Neko calls the Body Pod. Here’s the breakdown:

First, a high-resolution 3D body mapping system takes thousands of images of your skin, tracking every mole, freckle, and lesion down to 0.2mm. AI flags changes that could signal melanoma or other skin conditions.

Second, you lie back for cardiovascular screening. Neko uses non-contact sensors, blood pressure mapping, ECG, and ultrasound-like blood flow measurements to assess arterial stiffness, heart function, and circulation — key early markers for stroke and heart disease.

Third is the blood draw. Unlike a standard annual physical that tests 10-15 markers, Neko runs 100+ biomarkers covering cholesterol, blood sugar, inflammation, kidney and liver function, thyroid, and metabolic syndrome risk.

All of that data is fused by Neko’s AI engine and reviewed by a licensed physician on-site. Within an hour, your results pop up in the Neko app with a Health Score, trend lines, and a face-to-face consultation to go over red flags.

No gowns in cold hallways. No waiting three weeks for lab results. No MRI tube.

In the US, the full scan costs $1,095 out-of-pocket, with annual re-scans at $695 for members. Insurance doesn’t cover it — at least not yet.

NEKO VS. FUNCTION HEALTH VS. PRENUVO AND THE MIDJOURNEY CROWD

Neko isn’t entering an empty market. Longevity is suddenly Silicon Valley’s hottest battleground.

Function Health, co-founded by Levels founder Sam Corcos and backed by Andreessen Horowitz, is Neko’s closest rival. At $499 per year, Function skips the fancy clinic and goes lab-first: 160+ blood tests, twice a year, with insights from top doctors including Mark Hyman. It’s cheaper and already has 300,000+ paying members in the US, but there’s no in-person 3D body scan or cardiac imaging.

On the high end is Prenuvo, the $2,500 whole-body MRI darling of Kim Kardashian and Ashton Kutcher. Prenuvo gives you a stunningly detailed look inside — tumors, cysts, spine and brain anomalies — in a 60-minute MRI. It’s powerful, but slow, expensive, and prone to incidental findings that cause anxiety. Neko argues its approach is faster, more affordable, and better for yearly tracking.

Then there’s the wild card: the AI-imaging wave coming from Midjourney circles. Midjourney founder David Holz has been teasing a separate AI health-scanning research project focused on low-cost, vision-model diagnostics, and a host of startups inspired by that work are promising iPhone-based skin and posture scans for under $100. They’re nowhere near Neko’s clinical depth, but they show where the tech is headed — preventative screening as cheap and ubiquitous as a selfie.

In short: Function wins on price and labs, Prenuvo wins on deep imaging, Neko is trying to win on experience — a one-stop, design-forward middle ground.

WHY INVESTORS JUST BET $700 MILLION ON LONGEVITY

Why would VCs pour $700 million into physical clinics, one of the hardest businesses to scale?

Three reasons.

One, the economics of prevention are flipping. Chronic disease costs the US $4.5 trillion a year. Employers and wealthy consumers will happily pay $1,000 a year if it catches diabetes, heart disease, or skin cancer early. Neko already claims profitability per clinic in Sweden, with 80% of members rebooking.

Two, AI finally makes it scalable. Neko says its models, trained on millions of scans from Stockholm, London, and now New York, cut doctor review time by 70%. That means one physician can supervise far more patients than in traditional primary care.

Three, data is the moat. Every scan makes Neko’s risk-prediction engine smarter. Investors aren’t just buying clinic revenue — they’re buying what could become the largest private dataset of preventative human health in the world. Think Spotify’s Wrapped, but for your arteries.

Lightspeed partner Bejul Somaia called it “the first consumer health brand with Apple-level love and pharma-level rigor.”

IS IT WORTH IT? WHAT DOCTORS SAY

So, should you book?

Early reviews from London and Stockholm are glowing on experience — 4.8 stars, spotless clinics, zero waiting. Users love seeing their own vascular age, skin map, and metabolic trends visualized beautifully.

Doctors are more split.

Supporters say Neko is exactly what modern medicine is missing: accessible baseline data, early detection, and patient empowerment. Catching high blood pressure at 32 or pre-diabetes at 38 can add a decade to your life.

Skeptics warn of three issues. First, Neko’s US offering is not FDA-cleared as a diagnostic device — it operates as a wellness screening service with physician oversight, which limits what it can officially claim to detect. Second, more data isn’t always better. Broad biomarker testing can trigger false positives, unnecessary follow-ups, and anxiety. Third, $1,095 still prices out most Americans who need preventative care most.

Neko counters that it refers less than 8% of members for urgent follow-up, partners with local health systems for referrals, and publishes its clinical validation studies openly.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR NEKO IN AMERICA

The $700 million won’t sit still. Neko says 70% will go to US expansion: 10-15 clinics in major metros by 2028, a US-based AI research lab, and hiring 200+ physicians, nurses, and engineers.

Longer term, Ek has hinted at at-home sensors, continuous glucose and blood pressure integration, and employer partnerships that could drop the price below $500.

Whether Neko becomes the Spotify of healthcare or another luxury wellness fad for the worried well depends on one thing: can it prove its scans actually make people live longer, healthier lives — not just feel cooler about their health?

For now, America’s longevity gold rush has a sleek new Scandinavian flagship. And a 200,000-person waitlist suggests plenty of people are willing to pay to find out.

AndroGuider Team

Articles written by the AndroGuider team. We try to make them thorough and informational while being easy to read.