Neko Health raises $700 million to expand AI body scans in the US

Neko Health raises 0 million to expand AI body scans in the US

Neko Well being has raised $700 million to increase its AI physique scans in america, beginning with a clinic in New York. The corporate’s preventive screening service combines medical imaging, blood checks, proprietary sensors, and clinician assessment.

The Sequence C spherical was led by Lightspeed Enterprise Companions and co-led by O.G. Enterprise Companions. Present buyers Atomico, Common Catalyst, and Lakestar participated, alongside new backers together with Liberty Metropolis Ventures, Optimistic Sum, and BDT & MSD.

David Ofer of O.G. Enterprise Companions will be a part of Neko’s board, topic to regulatory approval.

The most recent spherical brings Neko’s disclosed funding since 2023 to greater than $1 billion. The corporate raised $65 million in a Sequence A spherical in 2023 and one other $260 million in January 2025.

The spherical additionally included investments from Meta chief govt Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, former tennis participant Maria Sharapova, musician will.i.am, and former footballer Thierry Henry. Present particular person buyers embrace Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and actor Zoë Saldaña.

How Neko Well being’s AI physique scans work

Neko operates clinics that mix full-body scans, blood checks, synthetic intelligence, and custom-built medical gear. The service screens clients for potential indicators of situations together with pores and skin most cancers, heart problems, and diabetes.

The corporate describes the service as a 60-minute, non-invasive, and radiation-free well being evaluation. It makes use of proprietary sensors and blood evaluation to look at pores and skin situations, blood abnormalities, pre-diabetes indicators, and threat elements related to metabolic syndrome, stroke, and coronary heart assault.

The scan additionally contains an electrocardiogram, arterial measurements, body-composition evaluation, and greater than 2,000 high-resolution pictures used to map a buyer’s pores and skin. Blood samples are processed on the clinic, permitting the outcomes to be reviewed throughout the identical go to.

Outcomes are mentioned throughout an in-person session with a medical skilled.

Most of the measurements, together with blood stress, blood glucose, ldl cholesterol, electrocardiogram knowledge, and pores and skin assessments, are already out there by standard healthcare companies. Neko’s mannequin combines them with proprietary imaging, automated knowledge assortment, on-site blood processing, and a clinician session in a single appointment.

The corporate’s public scientific supplies reviewed for this text don’t embrace a comparative examine displaying whether or not this mixed method improves scientific outcomes or cost-effectiveness in contrast with established preventive-care pathways.

Neko stated the funding will assist the opening of clinics in New York and different US cities. It has not recognized the extra areas or offered an in depth enlargement schedule.

A waitlist for the New York clinic is open on the corporate’s web site. Neko has not disclosed how a lot its US scans will price.

The corporate presently operates eight clinics throughout the UK and Sweden, together with two in Stockholm, one every in Manchester and Birmingham, and 4 in London: Marylebone, Spitalfields, Covent Backyard, and Victoria.

A scan prices £299 within the UK and a pair of,750 Swedish kronor in Sweden, equal to about $400 and $285.

Neko stated it has accomplished 100,000 scans since launching its service in 2023. Greater than 350,000 individuals have registered for a scan or joined its waitlists.

In response to the corporate, 75% of shoppers e-book and prepay for an additional scan on the finish of their appointment.

The repeat-booking mannequin permits clinicians to check measurements and pores and skin pictures over time. Public info reviewed for this text doesn’t embrace proof establishing whether or not annual screening is the suitable interval for each age or threat group.

Based in 2018 by Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek and chief govt Hjalmar Nilsonne, Neko operated largely outdoors public view till launching its service in 2023.

Nilsonne stated a part of the brand new capital will fund additional analysis and improvement into preventive screening expertise.

Neko not too long ago added body-composition measurements and clinician opinions of wearable-device knowledge throughout its clinics. It has additionally launched up to date variations of its Derma, Echo, and Spectrum medical gadgets, which accumulate info referring to pores and skin, coronary heart operate, and circulation.

The corporate stated the newer gear captures a bigger quantity of well being knowledge and automates extra components of the scanning course of. It plans to deploy the gadgets throughout its clinics within the coming months.

The clinic-based mannequin requires proprietary gear, blood-processing capability, medical personnel, and specialist assessment for some findings. Neko stated its seven-room Covent Backyard clinic was designed to assist tens of hundreds of scans yearly, but it surely has not disclosed capability or staffing figures for its deliberate US areas.

US regulation and entry

FDA data present that two of Neko’s internally developed gadgets acquired clearance by the company’s 510(okay) pathway in Might 2026. Derma-2 was cleared as an adjunctive telethermographic system, whereas Spectrum-2 was cleared as a tissue-saturation oximeter utilized in cardiovascular measurements.

The clearances apply to the required gadgets and their supposed makes use of, somewhat than to the whole Neko Well being Scan as a single FDA-approved screening service.

Neko describes its US clinics as preventive well being and wellness suppliers somewhat than full-service medical practices. Its privateness discover advises clients to proceed seeing their present clinicians for diagnoses and remedy, together with for situations recognized by a Neko scan.

The corporate says specialist clinicians, together with dermatologists and cardiologists, assessment findings that require additional examination. Observe-up appointments, referral letters, and introductions to outdoors specialists are included when really helpful by a Neko clinician.

Neko’s US clinics don’t presently take part in medical health insurance plans, and the corporate says most of its companies aren’t coated by a payer. Clients are due to this fact anticipated to pay immediately for the preliminary evaluation.

The corporate has not disclosed what clients would pay for diagnostic checks or remedy delivered by exterior healthcare suppliers. It has additionally not introduced its US value or whether or not employers, insurers, or different organisations will subsidise entry to the service.

Questions over scientific proof

Publicly out there info reviewed for this text doesn’t embrace a accomplished peer-reviewed examine validating the complete screening service. A examine registered on ClinicalTrials.gov is evaluating the suitability of Neko’s multimodal skin-imaging expertise for screening and diagnostic-support purposes, together with pores and skin most cancers and Raynaud’s phenomenon.

The trial stays an ongoing analysis and doesn’t set up the scientific efficiency of the whole Neko Well being Scan.

Neko’s public supplies reviewed for this text don’t disclose how typically its scans produce false-positive findings, what number of clients bear extra procedures, or what number of flagged abnormalities are later thought-about clinically unimportant.

The corporate’s US privateness discover identifies an AI dictation system used to summarise medical data, questionnaires, scan knowledge, and scientific conversations, and to draft stories. Neko says clinicians assessment stories produced utilizing the system.

Public info doesn’t present a whole breakdown of which scan measurements or classifications depend on AI, standard software program, or direct scientific evaluation. It additionally doesn’t state that AI independently diagnoses the situations coated by the service.

The FDA clearances for particular person gadgets don’t set up the efficiency of each algorithm used to mix or interpret the ensuing knowledge. Public supplies reviewed for this text don’t embrace detailed real-world efficiency figures for every AI system used within the screening course of.

Neko’s reported health-outcome knowledge is predicated on 1,469 clients who accomplished a second scan roughly one yr after their first. The corporate stated the group recorded enhancements in blood stress, ldl cholesterol, and blood sugar, whereas physique weight remained broadly steady.

The scans within the evaluation have been carried out at Neko’s Stockholm clinics. The corporate divided the outcomes right into a common group, a wholesome group, and teams masking clients with hypertension, pre-diabetes, or diabetes.

Neko stated the evaluation was not a scientific examine and didn’t embrace a management group. Clients might have began remedy or modified their behaviour between appointments, so the figures don’t set up that the scans brought about the reported enhancements.

The evaluation solely coated clients who returned for a second privately bought scan. Neko didn’t publish demographic info displaying how that group compares with its wider buyer base or the final inhabitants.

The corporate didn’t disclose its valuation following the newest spherical. The Monetary Occasions, citing unnamed sources, reported that Neko is now valued at about $7 billion.

(Picture by Wonderlane)

See additionally: NHS AI blood take a look at might cut back invasive womb most cancers checks

Need to study extra about AI and large knowledge from business leaders? Take a look at AI & Big Data Expo going down in Amsterdam, California, and London. The excellent occasion is a part of TechEx and is co-located with different main expertise occasions, click on here for extra info.

AI Information is powered by TechForge Media. Discover different upcoming enterprise expertise occasions and webinars here.