Neko Health raises $500m Series C to expand AI-driven preventative body scans
The Stockholm-based healthtech startup secured major funding to scale its controversial but effective strategy of using unflattering AI body avatars to motivate lasting lifestyle changes.
Neko Health, the preventative healthtech startup co-founded by serial entrepreneur Hjalmar Nilsonne and Spotify’s Daniel Ek, has announced a $500m Series C funding round. The capital will support the opening of a second clinic in Stockholm and an upcoming expansion into New York.
The company’s growth is underpinned by a distinctive, if controversial, approach to patient engagement. Neko generates a three-dimensional avatar of the user’s body alongside its diagnostic results, deliberately utilizing unflattering angles to shock patients into action.
Clinical staff report that these visualisations frequently motivate users to alter their habits. The stark depiction of potential future physical decline, including increased visceral fat and reduced muscle tone, presents patients with a clear choice to modify their lifestyle.
This behavioural nudge appears to be working for the company’s retention metrics. Nilsonne stated that an average of 80 per cent of customers return for yearly scans.
Retention dynamics show a specific pattern, according to the co-founder. While return rates are lower between a patient's first and second scan, they increase significantly from the second to the third visit.
"Once people actually get what we are trying to do, they really stick with it, and they commit to this kind of new behaviour," Nilsonne said.
Expanding the product suite
To maintain this engagement, Neko has continuously expanded its diagnostic offerings. Recent additions include advanced blood tests, revised blood circulation testing, wearables integration, and AI-driven body composition analysis.
The AI feature specifically calculates visceral fat around internal organs, providing another data point that argues for a lifestyle makeover. Nilsonne noted that while new features are important, the core service becomes stickier over time regardless.
For European healthtech investors, Neko’s trajectory signals a strong appetite for preventative care models that successfully bridge the gap between raw medical data and tangible behavioural change. The upcoming New York launch will test whether this provocative model can scale in the competitive US market.
