Spotify founder has launched a new startup. No streaming music or podcasts. But Daniel Ek, 40, born in Stockholm where he launched his first company, will target an even wider market than the music one. Ek with Spotify has revolutionized the music market. Now with Neko Health, this is the name of his new entrepreneurial challenge, he wants to try to do the same with healthcare.
What Neko Helth does, an idea from 2018
The existence of this project was revealed by Sifted last November. Confirmation came from Ek and the club today. The first clinic dedicated to patient screening has opened in Stockholm, the company announced. A tool developed by Neko will analyze “over 50 million data on the skin, heart, breathing”, with a technology “based on artificial intelligence capable of screening in 15 minutes, with the advice of specialized doctors”. Cost? 2000 Swedish kronor. About 180 euros.
Ek founded Neko in 2018 with Hjalmar Nilsonne, an engineer. The idea behind Neko is that the current healthcare system does not offer doctors the time and resources to focus on preventive care. And to solve the challenges healthcare is facing, Ek and Nilsonne believe it is vital that early disease detection and preventative care become a priority.
Ek: “Take care of your body as well as your car”
“Hjalmar and I founded Neko with the understanding that much of today’s healthcare system was designed over 50 years ago,” Ek said in a statement. “At the same time, healthcare has long been characterized by very high costs and professionalism pushed to the limit by the large amount of work to be done. If we are to reverse this trend, I am convinced that healthcare must start moving earlier, and not more respond to emergencies”.
Ek then gives an example: “Isn’t it strange that since 1965 we have checked our cars every year, but we wait for our body to fall apart before doing anything?”. The reference is to a Swedish law which requires car owners to regularly check the cars on the roads.
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The launch of Neko Health came after four years of research. And behind it there would be leading Swedish healthcare laboratories. Today the first clinic. But the company expects this kind of screening to grow over time and improve exam by exam. Machine learning, they call it. The soul of what is more commonly called artificial intelligence.