[Neko Health](https://www.nekohealth.com/gb/en), a Stockholm-based company co-founded by [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/intl-de)'s Daniel Ek, received a significant investment, raising $260 million in a Series B round. The investment boosted the company's post-money valuation to $1.8 billion. The company is at the forefront of the body scanner market, capitalizing on consumers' interest in understanding and preventing health problems before they become serious.

This significant financial contribution will allow Neko to expand its operations into new markets, notably in the United States, and to further strengthen its diagnostic capabilities, possibly through acquisitions. In addition, to meet the growing demand for its services, the company plans to open new clinics. In a [conversation with TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/22/neko-the-body-scanning-startup-co-founded-by-spotifys-daniel-ek-snaps-up-260m-at-a-1-8b-valuation/), CEO Hjalmar Nilsonne said the company surreptitiously purchased another startup that creates sensors, improving Neko's ability to collect data, while the details of the deal are unknown.

With a rapidly growing waiting list of more than 100,000 people, up from 40,000 just months ago, Neko Health has successfully scanned and examined 10,000 patients at its Stockholm and London clinics. The demand for a creative approach to healthcare is clear, and Neko is well positioned to meet this demand by expanding its presence and continuing its pioneering work in the healthcare sector.

Lightspeed Venture Partners led the Series B fundraising, which included contributions from General Catalyst, O.G. Venture Partners, Rosello, Lakestar and Atomico. This follows a successful Series A round in 2023 that attracted $65 million from big-name investors such as Lakestar, Atomico and General Catalyst, as well as early seed funding from Prima Materia, which Daniel Ek also co-founded.

This increased investment comes at a time when the global healthcare industry is focusing on preventative care and adopting new technologies to better detect and manage health conditions. As Neko Health grows and innovates, it emerges as a pioneer in integrating technology and healthcare to provide proactive solutions that have the potential to transform the way health problems are predicted and prevented.

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Neko Health Secures $260M to Enhance Body Scanning Technology


As AI technology advances, misinformation continues to grow and businesses are becoming increasingly vulnerable. A London-based startup called Refute is tackling this problem by identifying and thwarting misinformation aimed at businesses. Playfair Capital and Episode 1, two UK-based investors, are leading the company's recent pre-seed investment round, which raised £2.3 million ($2.9 million).

These disinformation efforts are driven by a number of variables, such as geopolitical tensions and the use of generative AI to create fake documents. These sophisticated operations frequently target executives, supply chains and organizations, causing significant financial and reputational damage.

Refute distinguishes itself from its competitors who primarily focus on detection thanks to its comprehensive strategy for identifying and combating disinformation. Finding “threat actors” and their actions is part of the company’s efforts to identify disinformation operations. The limitations of current social media and media monitoring technologies, primarily passive and intended for marketing purposes, explains Tom Garnett, co-founder and CEO of Refute in an [interview with TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/13/as-ai-fueled-disinformation-explodes-here-comes-the-startup-counterattack/). As a result, they are useless for combating the complex and multifaceted nature of disinformation threats.

This strategy draws on Garnett's experience in national security, where he created large data analysis systems at Detica and BAE Systems. It has used comparable technologies to combat financial crime and cyberattacks in the corporate sector.

Vlad Galu, co-founder of Refute, knows the effects of disinformation firsthand because he grew up in Romania in an era of technological advancement and regulatory ambiguity. Initially, he worked to develop core internet infrastructure in Romania and the CEE countries, which required strong defenses against a range of threats.

Other investors in this round included angel investors Charlie Songhurst, Carlos Espinal, James Chappell and Alastair Paterson, in addition to Notion Capital and Amadeus Capital Partners.

According to Andrew Sheffield of Playfair Capital, the information landscape is changing, making it harder to distinguish fact from fiction and making it less costly to spread misinformation. He highlighted Garnett and Galu's expertise in data analysis, cybersecurity and handling difficult security issues.

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Combating Misinformation: Refute's Secures £2.3 Million in Pre-Seed Round

###### October 29, 2024

Industry companies are looking for ways to stand out with improved features and broader integrations, as AI startups continue to flood the market with bots that can take notes, transcribe meetings, and bring up information.

One such company making headway is [Read AI](https://www.read.ai/), which has integrated its AI bot into enterprise platforms like Jira, Confluence, Hubspot, and Slack in addition to email. Six months after its [$21 million Series A investment round](https://www.read.ai/post/read-ai-raises-21mm-unveils-connected-intelligence-for-meetings-email-and-messaging), Read AI has just raised $50 million in a Series B funding round led by Smash Capital.

Since its first fundraising, the company has experienced remarkable growth, creating more than 100,000 new individual and professional user accounts. Due to its rapid growth, Read AI decided to seek more funding in order to maintain its pace. In line with the company's recent progress, its valuation has also improved.

The managing partner of Smash Capital highlighted that product-focused development companies like Read AI are attractive because they effectively address the needs of enterprise clients and a broad audience, making the investment particularly attractive.

Dedicated to product growth, Read AI unveiled interfaces with messaging, email and meeting apps earlier this year. Building on this, the company has now released a Chrome extension with features like meeting summaries, calendar access, quick meeting additions, and chat analytics. Additionally, by extracting relevant data from previous emails and meetings, this program redacts emails and highlights important details in email threads. Similar capabilities are offered by companies such as Superhuman and Shortwave.

With this new funding, the Chrome extension is now available for free, allowing it to grow and offer customers accessible features without charging more. Building on its leadership in the meeting notes market, Read AI hopes to help users with insightful summaries and suggestions by integrating into their daily processes.

Read AI's strategy of integrating its bot across multiple platforms can provide a significant competitive advantage as meeting transcription tools become increasingly standardized. Read AI views its bot as a co-pilot for daily tasks, keeping track of important information and facilitating better teamwork.

By the end of the first quarter of 2025, Read AI hopes to grow from its current workforce of 40 to 100 members. Existing investors Madrona and Goodwater Capital also continued to support the Series B investment round.

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Read AI Raises $50M to Improve AI Summary Bot and Expand Integrations

###### October 22, 2024

Even before its release, [Daze](https://daze.chat/), a Gen Z-focused, AI-driven creative messaging service, is creating a stir. The app's most successful video has been [viewed 8 million times on TikTok ](https://www.tiktok.com/@daze.chat/video/7415726395835469102?lang=en)alone, and a total of 48 million views on Instagram and TikTok. Demand is so high that more than 156,000 people have already signed up to its waiting list.

It’s engaging product demo videos that highlight the app’s distinctive features and appeal to a younger audience that spark that excitement rather than influencer recommendations or sponsored ads. Daze, a startup founded by [Willem Simons](https://www.linkedin.com/in/willem-simons-60a176124/) of New York, transforms messaging into a dynamic and adaptable experience. Users can add custom pictures, images, stickers, GIFs, sketches, and backgrounds to create multi-colored messages that float on the screen in place of the typical blue or green bubbles.

Daze wants to further improve its AI skills and integrate it into some of its creative tools. [Simons explains in his interview with TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/21/daze-a-creative-ai-powered-messaging-app-for-gen-z-is-blowing-up-prelaunch/) that, in addition to competing with well-known services like iMessage and WhatsApp, the app is designed to be a feature-rich messaging platform that adds a fun and imaginative touch to the user experience. Utility and flexibility are afforded by the ease with which users can send messages and move them throughout the chat.

Willem Simons, the founder, has already experimented with inventive messages. He previously co-developed Muze, an app with a similar free messaging approach. But Daze, his solo project, deviates from his original concept of a social calendar. Daze, which was developed with React Native to enable simultaneous release on iOS and Android, will launch on November 4 after beta testing with 1,400 invite-only users.

With a 60-day retention rate above 50% for users who sent messages, initial tests look promising. Unsurprisingly, young users aged 13 to 22 are the app's main target audience. Investors including a16z, Kindred Ventures, Alpaca Ventures, Betaworks and others contributed $5.7 million to the company, which employs seven full-time and one part-time employees.

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Daze: AI-Powered Messaging App for Gen Z Gains Great Popularity Prelaunch with 156K Sign-Ups and 48M Views


###### October 10, 2024

With the goal to outperform [Large Language Models](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_language_model) (LLM), [Qantev](https://www.qantev.com/), a health insurance technology company, has successfully funded €30 million to improve the application of AI models in claims management. Health and life insurance providers are facing a growing number of claims that their current systems are struggling to handle due to challenges posed by an aging population and chronic illnesses. Automating property and casualty insurance has advanced significantly thanks to AI, but automating health insurance is even more difficult.

Paris-based entrepreneur, co-founder of Qantev, Tarik Dadi saw this need while working as a senior data scientist at AXA. They founded Qantev at the end of 2018 with Hadrien de March, currently CTO of the company. Through the use of AI models that perform critical tasks usually performed by medical personnel, such as assessing medical necessity, ensuring cost accuracy and detecting possible fraud, the company helps insurers like AXA and Generali to manage claims. This is achieved much faster using Qantev’s AI, ultimately reducing expenses and increasing customer retention.

With a [seed investment of €1.7 million](https://www.qantev.com/news/qantev-raises-1-7m-in-seed-investment-round-with-elaia-partners) in 2020 and Series A funding of €10 million in 2022, the company has grown rapidly. This initiative was led by Elaia, Omnes and Raise Ventures, who also participated in the €30 million Series B round. Given the current fervor around AI and automation in insurance, this Series B round came sooner than expected.

The strategy used by Qantev is different from other companies that only use LLMs to solve comparable problems. Instead, to ensure accuracy in delicate areas like healthcare, Qantev uses a variety of more compact and targeted AI models that have been trained on past customer data. The startup emphasizes the value of precision because mistakes in health-related decisions, such as the best way to treat serious illnesses like cancer, cannot be tolerated.

Aiming to double its headcount by the end of the year, Qantev will use the additional funds to support its efforts to hire more engineering and AI talent. Additionally, the Series B funding led by Blossom Capital will enable Qantev to expand internationally, including in North America and Asia. Despite competition from US companies like Alaffia Health and Anomaly, Qantev enjoys a clear advantage thanks to its alliances with large international insurers.

Due to the size of these contracts, large clients can have long and complex sales cycles, but the rewards can be substantial. With its goal of becoming a platform, Qantev intends to go beyond claims management and perhaps offer underwriting products as well. In the wake of rising healthcare spending, the company is focused on leveraging its data and customer experience to solve major operational challenges such as fraud detection.

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€30M Boost for Qantev as It Aims to Outperform LLMs in Health Insurance AI


###### September 13, 2024

Though opinions on whether Rajeev Behera's new HR firm, [Every](https://www.every.io/), is a high-risk venture or a brilliant idea are varied, the startup is making waves. For small firms, the all-in-one platform integrates payroll, onboarding, and expenditure management. This market is already congested with established players like Gusto, Rippling, and Deel as well as up-and-coming companies like Mercury and Brex. However, Behera's backers appear to be certain that his strategy is unique. Recently, Every raised $22.5 million in a Series A fundraising round headed by Okta Ventures, Base10 Partners, Y Combinator, and Redpoint Ventures.

Behera's emphasis on early-stage firms and distinctive offering strategy are what distinguish his vision. Every provides free incorporation services to small firms, and then they set up business bank accounts and provide crucial back-office support. Interchange fees and SaaS fees for extra modules like accounting generate revenue.

[Behera explained](https://techcrunch.com/2024/09/12/why-y-combinator-companies-are-flocking-to-new-banking-hr-startup-every/) that Every has developed advanced tools for payroll, banking, and expense management. To attract founders early on, they are now offering free incorporation services. Once onboarded through a personalized session, startups gain access to a comprehensive system covering banking, payroll, HR, bookkeeping, taxes, and state compliance. Additionally, founders benefit from a dedicated Slack channel where they can connect and share insights with other entrepreneurs.

After completing their incorporation using Every, customers usually stick with it instead of using competitors' platforms like Rippling. With tools meant to promote their growth during the first five years, Every's concentration is on companies with less than 200 people.

Behera's approach is unique in that he anticipates his most profitable clients will eventually require more services from Every—at least until Every develops into a growth-stage fintech that can assist bigger companies.

Behera's relationship with [Y Combinator](https://www.ycombinator.com/) (YC) has been a vital component of Everybody's development. Behera, an experienced entrepreneur, made use of the accelerator's network, and everyone was a part of YC's Summer 2023 cohort. Reflektive, his prior business endeavor, was purchased in 2021 following a capital raise of more than $100 million. In addition, YC advisor Surbhi Sarna, his wife, is also a successful entrepreneur. Because of this, about half of Every's clientele came via YC's extensive startup network.

Even though Rippling, Gusto, and Deel—three other YC-backed startups—compete with them, Every's close ties to the YC ecosystem are a significant advantage. This has attracted investors, along with Behera's hands-on approach to creating the platform's components from the ground up.

Behera hired more staff after personally overseeing customer sales, support, and product design for the first 50 clients of the business, with the help of Redpoint's Alex Bard, who oversaw the Series A fundraising round. After reading glowing testimonials from firms that were already use Every, other venture capitalists did the same.

In less than two weeks, the Series A money was secured without Behera actively seeking new investors. Although the company's worth was not made public, estimates place it at $112.5 million. The additional funding will be used to support the free incorporation and onboarding services that are driving Every's early success, as well as to grow the engineering staff, which now numbers roughly 20 people.


Startups

Neko Health Secures $260M to Enhance Body Scanning Technology