Neko Health seems to be the hottest body scan in the world right now.
The scan, co-founded by Spotify’s David Ek and Hjalmar Nilsonne, uses advanced technology to screen for issues in the blood, skin, and metabolism. The company was founded in Sweden, has raised nearly $1 billion total, and just landed in New York. It has a global waitlist already topping 300,000 people, the company says.
TechCrunch sat down with Farooq Abbasi of Preface Ventures, who invested in the company. He hopes Neko Health can be the future of preventative medicine, especially in a country like the United States, where the medical system is notoriously plagued with issues.
Abbasi contends that preventative care utilization is low in the U.S. as people have concerns about how much it costs. Currently, Neko health charges $500 for its one-hour scan, which is not covered by insurance but should qualify as an acceptable expense for those that have Health Savings Accounts. “I think preventative care and healthcare should be cheap and accessible,” Abbasi said.
The hope is that Neko Health can tackle some of these issues, and it’s currently eyeing an expansion across the U.S. Abbasi has been scanned twice already and, perhaps, no surprise, says he loves it. “I think there should be Neko clinics everywhere,” he said.
He says the product has grown so much since he first tried it. “In my generation one scan, it was a blood test with 15 biomarkers,” he said. “It was fifty-five this time.”
Neko also uses advanced computer vision for its scans and Abbasi sees this as another example of how AI is improving the medical sector overall. He argues that Neko Health isn’t just another wellness fad, but something that gives people “actionable insights to make their lives better,” he said.
Neko still has a long way to go in the U.S., especially on scaling and regulatory approval. But Abbasi is an optimist; he hopes more venture dollars will pour into the right companies and doesn’t think anything is too broken to fix.