A clinic at 300 Lafayette Street in SoHo opened Thursday as Neko Health's first U.S. location, arriving with a pre-launch waitlist of more than 25,000 New Yorkers eager to pay $499 for an hour-long body scan that skips the MRI machine entirely. The Swedish health-tech company built its pitch around speed and price, promising to gather blood, heart, and body composition data without the radiation or high cost associated with traditional full-body imaging.
What Actually Happens During the Scan
According to Neko Health, the $499 assessment relies on blood biomarker analysis, ECG, and body-composition measurements to collect data in about 60 minutes, all without radiation or an MRI machine. That distinguishes it from direct-to-consumer rivals that build their offerings around full-body magnetic resonance imaging. As WKMG reports, full-body diagnostic scans elsewhere in the market typically run $1,000 to $5,000 out of pocket, a price point the station says most people simply cannot afford even as such scans have become something of a celebrity wellness staple.
The station's report notes that Neko Health uses technology the company designed itself, and that a company doctor reviewing a reporter's bloodwork during testing discovered a genetic condition that standard physicals rarely screen for. Neko Health says it built the clinic to change that affordability equation, positioning its scan as a middle option between a standard annual physical and pricier imaging-based alternatives.
A Spotify Founder's Bet on Preventive Health
Neko Health was co-founded in 2018 by Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek alongside Swedish engineer Hjalmar Nilsonne, according to Fast Company. The company has since scaled well beyond its initial bet: in July, Neko Health raised $700 million in a Series C round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and O.G. Venture Partners, pushing its total disclosed capital past $1 billion before it ever opened a U.S. clinic, per AI News.
That capital has already produced a track record overseas. Across its established clinics in Sweden and the UK, Neko Health has completed more than 100,000 body scans, and 75% of first-time members prepay for a repeat scan before leaving their initial appointment, according to PureWow. Planned U.S. locations include Miami, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.
Where Neko Fits Among NYC's Scan Boom
SoHo's new clinic lands in an already crowded field of tech-backed body-scanning ventures competing for New Yorkers' attention and wallets. Neko Health enters a rapidly growing NYC direct-to-consumer scan market alongside competitors like Prenuvo, whose whole-body MRI scans start at $2,500, and AI firm Midjourney, which announced plans for a 25,000-square-foot scanning spa in Union Square, as Hoodline has reported.
Neko operates its U.S. clinics as preventive wellness facilities rather than full-service primary care practices, using individual FDA-cleared diagnostic components while directing members to consult their existing primary physicians for any formal diagnosis, per the AI News report.
The Medical Establishment's Lingering Caution
The possibility of incidental findings is one concern around routine preventive scans. That concern sits uneasily alongside the enthusiasm on display at 300 Lafayette Street, where thousands of New Yorkers were willing to join a waitlist before the clinic's doors even opened.
