Neko Health's $700M raise fuels debate on AI body-scanning startups

Spotify founder Daniel Ek's startup Neko Health raised $700 million to develop full-body scanning technology aimed at preventative healthcare. The TechCrunch Equity podcast explores why investors are backing this emerging category, comparing Neko to rivals such as Midjourney, which is building its own scanner, and Function Health, which has also raised significant funding for a similar platform.

Host Dominic-Madori Davis speaks with Farooq Abbasi of Preface Ventures, an investor in Neko, about the appeal of preventative health tech, challenges in scaling beyond Sweden, and the business model tension between serving subscribers versus patients. The conversation also touches on the rise of AI tools in medicine, including vertical AI platforms like Open Evidence, and what it would take for scanning technology to become part of mainstream healthcare.