Key Takeaways

  • Daniel Ek spent five years developing Neko Health before running tests in Sweden in 2023 and expanding to the United Kingdom.
  • Neko charges $499 for a one-hour visit that pairs custom optical hardware with 53 blood markers and an immediate doctor consultation.
  • Across more than 100,000 scans, Neko detects serious undiagnosed medical conditions in approximately 1% of its patients.
  • Computer vision models track an average of 950 moles per patient over time to spot dangerous skin changes before symptoms appear.
  • The diagnostic flow relies entirely on the Neko Health Preventative Diagnostic Protocol.

The Neko Health Preventative Diagnostic Protocol

Ek built Neko Health because traditional medicine waits for people to get sick before running tests. As Ek explained, “Neko actually as crazy as it is we started the company eight years ago in 2018 and we started it in Sweden in 2023. So it took us 5 years to develop the product tried out in Sweden and then once we proven it in Sweden we took it to the UK and did it there.”

To make preventative medicine viable at scale, Neko vertically integrated the hardware, software, and clinical staff into a single 60-minute visit. Ek set a simple target: “we designed it with the goal of creating the most valuable hour you can invest in your health. That's the mission that we have.”

Here are the five components of the diagnostic protocol:

Step 1: Comprehensive Blood Draw

Draw patient blood upon arrival to test and index 53 distinct blood markers.

Step 2: Full-Body Optical Skin Rig Scan

Capture over 6,000 high-resolution multi-frequency images across the body to catalog, map, and measure every mole, lesion, and rash.

Step 3: Cardiovascular & Physical Biomarker Assessment

Assess circulation, cardiovascular metrics, and physical baseline indicators including grip strength.

Step 4: AI Risk Flagging and Multi-Tier Medical Review

Process scan datasets through AI computer vision models to flag anomalies, followed by review from human clinicians and staff dermatologists.

Step 5: Direct Clinician Consultation

Review complete diagnostic results and blood work directly with the patient within the same hour-long visit to plan lifestyle or clinical interventions.

When This Works (and When It Doesn't)

This framework works when applied as an annual preventative checkup model designed to catch chronic disease and undiagnosed health risks early while maintaining unit-economic profitability at a $499 price point. Ek reported clear clinical results from high volume: “We've done more than 100,000 scans already. So we actually publish data every year. So we've just published our third year data survey where we go through the health outcomes that we have across our members and around 1% of our members have a serious underlying medical situation that is undiagnosed that we discover.”

The model works because algorithms excel at tracking longitudinal shifts across massive datasets. As Ek noted, “The average person at Neko today has 950 moles. It's pretty crazy.” No human dermatologist can accurately track 950 individual spots across consecutive annual visits without automated imaging rigs.

Where it fails is acute trauma, complex emergency care, and rare internal pathologies that require invasive tissue biopsies. If a patient experiences acute symptoms, full-body baseline scans waste precious hours. Neko is built for asymptomatic baselines, not crisis intervention.

What to Do With This

If you run a product where data collection is fragmented across multiple third parties, look at Neko's vertical integration strategy. Take your core customer assessment this week. If a user has to jump between three different tools to get a result, map out the cost to bundle those steps into one continuous session. Cut the diagnostic loop down to a single sitting, eliminate external lab wait times, and deliver the final synthesis before the customer leaves.