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“After four years of intense research and product development, we officially launch Neko Health today,” the post reads. “The company was founded by Hjalmar Nilsonne and Daniel Ek with the vision of creating a healthcare system that can help people stay healthy through preventative measures and early detection.”
According to a translated version of Neko Health’s website, the Swedish company’s non-invasive body scanner can detect and measure the growth of birthmarks, rashes and age spots. It also uses a separate scanner to detect any abnormalities in heart function, blood pressure and pulse throughout the body.
Neko says the company’s 360-degree body scanner is equipped with more than 70 sensors that collect over “50 million data points on skin, heart, vessels, respiration, microcirculation and more.” This data is then analyzed by an “AI-powered self-learning system” that spells out the results for doctors and patients. Clients get results during their appointment and can even view and track their results on an accompanying app.
“Our mission is to build a proactive healthcare system focused on disease prevention,” Nilsonne wrote in a LinkedIn post, citing rising healthcare costs in Sweden and the European Union. Body scanners, which Neko says take just a few minutes, are currently open to the public in Sweden and cost 2,000 SEK (about US$190). As of this writing, scans are currently sold out.
Ek’s foray into the healthcare industry isn’t exactly a surprise. Rumors about the startup have been circulating since November, and Ek has long hinted that he would get involved in healthcare. In 2013, a report by The Financial Times revealed that Ek “spends free hours thinking about how to fix a ‘screwed up’ healthcare system”. “I’m not the inventor, but maybe I’m the dumb enough person to go against the system and try to beat it on its own terms,” he said at the time.
It’s obviously too early to tell what kind of impact Neko Health might have on the healthcare industry, but it looks promising. Similar technology has emerged in the past, with Facebook and New York University teaming up to speed up MRI scans using AI, and researchers developing AI technology that scans your retina and predicts your risk of heart disease. But Neko Health is using this technology on a larger, more accessible scale, and it’s exciting to think about its potential.
