Thanks to TechCrunch for covering this -> Neko Health, the body-scanning AI health startup from Spotify’s Daniel Ek, opens in London | TechCrunch

Worth visiting just for the ‘I too can be Derek Zoolander’ photograph of the co-founders.

Healthcare AI Startups are so Hot Right Now

Neko Health is an AI Healthcare startup

1. Focused on preventative healthcare. Basically, they take full body scans and use AI to try and detect things such as skin cancer
2. The test costs 299 pounds. It takes an hour
   • There are a series of scans and tests. Then Neko’s AI takes millions of collected data points and figures out whether you are in danger of any serious health condition
3. Interestingly, a session with a Doctor is included. Not sure how they managed that in the 299 price (this is London, after all)
4. Neko Health has scanned 2,707 people in Stockholm, Sweden
   • 78.5% of those were fine
   • 14.1% needed follow-on medical treatment
   • Roughly 1% had serious issues. None of these 1% were aware of their issues before Neko scanned them
5. The TechCrunch article is worth visiting as it has a comprehensive description of actually going through the Neko Health scans -> Neko Health, the body-scanning AI health startup from Spotify’s Daniel Ek, opens in London | TechCrunch
6. Ek and Nilsonne, the co-founders, have been talking since 2018 about doing something in Healthcare
7. Neko Health raised a $60 million funding round in 2023

Thoughts on Neko Health – Are AI Healthcare Startups here to stay?

We think Neko Health is a brilliant idea, and that AI Healthcare Startups are definitely here to stay

1. Firstly, prevention is almost always better than cure
2. Secondly, most countries have either healthcare systems with massive waits (Canada), or which are failing (UK), or which are too expensive (US)
   • A 299 pound healthcare checkup from Neko Health is very reasonably priced
3. Thirdly, Healthcare has so much waste and inefficiency that there are dozens (if not hundreds) of areas where a startup can save money and time and help hospitals and doctors and nurses and patients
4. Fourthly, just like Legal, Healthcare is an area that is a natural fit for AI. The amount of data. The presence of patterns. The overworked doctors and nurses. The benefits of having double checks and triple checks. The list goes on
5. Fifthly, AI can create a paradigm shift where we let people catch diseases BEFORE they become a real issue
   • Imagine a world where people at risk of developing cancer can find that out before they actually get cancer
   • We already know some animals can detect early stage cancer. Perhaps soon, AI will be able to detect early cancer signs

Overall, Neko Health is a great little AI Healthcare startup (if you can call a company raising $60 million ‘little’) and we hope it does very well.