“After four years of intense research and product development, we are officially launching Neko Health today,” the post reads. “The company was founded by Hjalmar Nilssonne and Daniel Ek with the vision of building a healthcare system that can help people stay healthy through preventive measures and early detection.”
The Swedish company’s non-invasive full-body scanner can detect and measure birthmarks, rashes and spot growth, according to a translated version of the Feline Health website. A separate scanner is also used to detect abnormalities in heart function, blood pressure, and pulse throughout the body.
Neko said the company’s 360-degree body scanner has more than 70 sensors that collect “more than 50 million data points on skin, heart, blood vessels, breathing, microcirculation, and more.” This data is analyzed by a “self-learning AI-powered system” that provides results to doctors and patients. Clients receive results at the time of booking and can also view and track results in the accompanying app.
“Our mission is to build a proactive health care system focused on disease prevention,” Nilssonne said in a LinkedIn post, citing rising health care costs in Sweden and the European Union. . Neko said the full-body scan takes just a few minutes and is currently available to the public in Sweden, costing 2,000 Swedish kronor (or about $190). As of this writing, scans are sold out.
Ek’s foray into the healthcare industry isn’t all that surprising. Rumors about the startup have been circulating since November, and Ek has previously hinted at involvement in the medical field. In the 2013 report: financial times newspaper Ek revealed that he is spending his free time thinking about ways to fix the “messed up” medical system. “I’m not an inventor, but maybe I’m stupid enough to go against the system and try to beat it in my own way,” he said at the time.
Obviously, it’s too early to tell what kind of impact Neko Health will have on the healthcare industry, but it looks promising. Similar technologies have emerged in the past, including Facebook and New York University partnering to use AI to speed up MRI scans, and researchers using AI to scan the retina to predict heart disease risk. We are developing technology. But Neko Health is taking this technology on a larger, more accessible scale, and it’s exciting to think about the possibilities.
