Neko Health, the Spotify billionaire’s body-scanning start-up, lands in the U.S.: nearly $1 billion in funding and 300,000 on the waiting list

Neko Health, the health start-up co-founded by Spotify billionaire Daniel Ek and Hjalmar Nilsonne, has landed in New York — the company’s first location in the U.S., as TechCrunch reports. The company has raised nearly $1 billion in funding in total and counts more than 300,000 people on its global waiting list.

The scan lasts about an hour and costs $500: it is not covered by health insurance, but according to TechCrunch it may qualify for payment through Health Savings Accounts. The check-up analyses blood, skin and metabolism with the help of advanced computer-vision technologies and artificial intelligence — the first generation of the scan measured 15 biomarkers, while today it measures 55.

As TechCrunch writes after speaking with Farooq Abbasi of Preface Ventures, an investor who has himself undergone the scan twice, Neko could become the future of preventive medicine in the U.S. In his view, preventive care should be cheap and accessible to everyone — precisely the model that Ek’s company promises.

However, the road ahead is not without challenges. TechCrunch notes that expanding operations and obtaining regulatory approvals in the United States remain two of the main obstacles Neko Health will have to overcome to turn the one-hour scan into a mass service.