“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” according to an old adage, but is it worth $380? More than 100,000 people seem to think so because that is the worldwide waiting list for Neko Health’s first-of-its-kind, full-body AI scans. Investors are bullish too. The Stockholm-based health tech start-up recently raised $260 million in Series B funding, valuing it at $1.8 billion. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, a backer of Elon Musk’s xAI, Stripe, and Epic Games. 

Founded by Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek and serial entrepreneur Hjalmar Nilsonne, Neko Health is focused on prevention and early detection. Its unique scan uses over 70 sensors and a mix of proprietary and off-the-shelf technologies to collect 50 million data points in about 10 minutes. It noninvasively measures heart function and circulation while taking over 2,000 high-resolution images, mapping blemishes. A blood draw and other tests like grip strength are also administered. Immediately after the scan, patients consult with a doctor to review the results. The hour-long visit, conducted in a spa-like environment, costs £299 ($380). “We’re at the beginning of a big shift in the healthcare market, from reactive to proactive, driven both by technological advancements and growing consumer demand,” says Nilsonne.

Neko’s first clinic launched in Stockholm in 2023 when it raised $65 million from investors including Atomico, General Catalyst, and Lakestar. A second clinic opened in London last year. The latest round will fuel expansion in Europe and particularly in the United States once it receives regulatory approvals. Additionally, the capital will fund acquisitions and accelerate development in breakthrough R&D.  

The Spotify founder endeavors to build the Apple of healthcare with a similar vertical integration of the design, manufacturing, and supply chains of its components. Neko develops its own hardware, software, and health centers, thereby controlling the AI and data. “The companies we compare ourselves with are the Apples or Teslas of the world, but we’re applying it to a very different domain, which is healthcare,” Ek told the Financial Times. 

Neko’s focus on preventive healthcare, its significant financial backing, and vertical integration are several key growth drivers. Another is high market demand. Neko says it has performed 10,000 scans across its two sites and has 100,000 people on its waiting list—all without any paid marketing, ads, or influencer collaborations. Additionally, claims Neko, 80% of patients are rebooking and paying a year in advance. “With a long waitlist and a clear path to international expansion, we believe comprehensive preventive care can be both accessible and scalable,” says Bejul Somaia, Global Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners.

The start-up is tapping into the global wellness market which broadly encompasses fitness, nutrition, wellness tourism, personalized medicine, and more. The Global Wellness Institute estimates the industry “to be a multitrillion-dollar market, with global spending exceeding $4 trillion every year since 2017. Its growth rate has consistently outpaced global GDP growth, with positive gains even in years of global economic downturn (except during the 2020 pandemic year).” An aging population, the environmental crisis, failing health systems, and the high cost of healthcare are among the factors driving this boom. “Health systems are failing in countries all around the world, and the economic burden is unsustainable. Therefore, it is not surprising that consumers, employers, and even governments are turning to wellness approaches to complement and address deficiencies in healthcare and to turn from ‘sick care’ to prevention,” concludes the industry-tracking organization. For example, starting next month in the UK, five different AI-enabled platforms will be deployed at 30 sites to help radiologists interpret breast screening scans.

While prevention is the overarching objective at Neko Health, early detection is a corresponding aim. This positions the company on the crest of another trending wave—longevity, or the goal to live longer—embraced by tech moguls like Sam Altman, Peter Thiel, and Bryan Johnson. This movement is predicted to dominate the wellness industry in 2025, according to Euromonitor International’s Top Global Consumer Trends 2025report. Indeed, the longevity market could hit $610 billion by next year, reveals the Global Wellness Institute. "It's astounding the speed in which a new focus on longevity is rewriting the wellness market," Beth McGroarty, Research Director at the Global Wellness Institute, tells Business Insider.

It’s no surprise then that competitors abound in the healthspan/lifespan space. Ezra, for example, and the Kim Kardashian-promoted Prenuvo, provide full-body MRI screenings costing about $2,500. Both are based in the US. Scan.com is a British start-up rapidly expanding in the US. The company, which helps patients book MRI scans at nearby imaging centers, has raised $66 million with the ambition of becoming “the world’s largest medical imaging platform.” Meanwhile, Google Health has developed a retinal AI scan which can detect conditions like glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy. It has also shown potential in identifying cardiovascular disease. The technology has been piloted in India and Thailand and is undergoing testing and regulatory approvals before being deployed in clinical settings.

Preventive care companies do have their detractors. Critics of full-body screenings say results can produce false positives, alarming patients, thereby further burdening stretched healthcare systems. In April 2023, the American College of Radiology (ACR) issued a statement on full-body MRIs stating “To date, there is no documented evidence that total body screening is cost-efficient or effective in prolonging life. In addition, the ACR is concerned that such procedures will lead to the identification of numerous nonspecific findings that will not ultimately improve patients' health but will result in unnecessary follow-up testing and procedures, as well as significant expense.” 

Nekos’s findings offer a rebuttal. In 2023, its first year of operation, Neko scanned 2,707 people. Of these, 78.5% had no health issues. However, 14.1% required medical treatment and 1% received potentially life-saving treatment for severe conditions like cardiovascular diseases, several metabolic diseases, and skin cancer. None of these individuals, according to Neko, were aware of their condition prior to their visit. Those receiving life-saving treatment ranged in age from 33 to 79 years old and notably, 26% were under 50 years old. 

"Healthcare costs are spiraling out of control,” says Nilsonne. “We believe preventive health will be key to reversing this trend. Doctors today just don't have enough time or resources to focus on prevention. This leads to many health problems going unnoticed until they get really serious, causing a lot of pain and putting a massive strain on the healthcare system.”