The preventive healthcare industry is experiencing a structural shift. While reactive medicine or traditional medicine as we know it (treating illness after it emerges) remains the dominant model, a new category of companies is building infrastructure for something different: systematic early detection before symptoms appear.

Three companies exemplify the scale of capital flowing into this space.

THE PREVENTIVE HEALTH RACE: Funding & Valuations

Function Health (US) ████████████████████ $2.5B valuation $358M raised | 200K+ members

Neko Health (UK/Sweden) ██████████████ $1.8B valuation $325M raised | 100K waitlist

Prenuvo (US/Canada) ████████ $192M raised ~$250M revenue | 110K scanned

Superpower (US) ███ $30M Series A 2,000+ partner labs

Zoi (France) ██ $23M seed 3K+ members | Paris

Lucis (France) ██ €8.5M seed 500K+ tests | EU expansion

Aeon (Switzerland) ██ €8.2M seed | First insurance reimbursement

Riva Medical (Belgium) █ Non-disclosed funding | BE focused

The thesis underpinning these valuations is straightforward:

Yet this infrastructure buildout is overwhelmingly concentrated in the United States. Europe, despite having the demographic demand, clinical expertise, and capital markets to support similar ventures, remains conspicuously underbuilt. A handful of companies are beginning to establish presence: Lucis in France, Aeon in Switzerland, Blue Health in the Netherlands, Zoi in Paris, and Riva Medical in Belgium, but the ecosystem lags behind its US counterpart.

The gap is not accidental. It reflects structural differences in how healthcare is financed, regulated, and conceptualized on both sides of the Atlantic. Understanding why Europe has been slower to build in this category reveals both the constraints facing founders and the scale of the opportunity that remains.

The preventive health market is bifurcating into two distinct models, each serving different clinical and economic purposes.

MODEL A: Accessible screening (€200-€500)

Mass-market blood biomarker testing and non-invasive sensors targeting metabolic, cardiovascular, and inflammatory markers. Companies like Function Health (160+ biomarkers, $365/year, 200K members), Neko Health (70+ sensors, 50M datapoints, £299), Superpower ($199/year, HSA/FSA eligible), Lucis (180+ biomarkers, 400+ labs across Europe), Blue Health (€299, Amsterdam), and Zoi and Riva Medical operate in this category.

Neko Health reports that 14.1% of scans identify medical issues requiring follow-up, with 1% uncovering life-threatening conditions. The clinical case is strongest for pre-diabetes detection (€200-500 vs €50K+ lifetime diabetes treatment), cardiovascular risk identification (€300 vs €100K+ heart attack/stroke treatment), and early metabolic intervention.

MODEL B: Premium full-body MRI (€2,500-€5,000)

Advanced imaging targeting structural abnormalities (tumors, aneurysms, lesions, early-stage cancers) that blood work cannot detect. Prenuvo ($2,499-$4,499, 17 clinics, 110K scanned, estimated $250M revenue), Aeon (CHF 2,490-2,990, MRI + blood + genetics, first European insurance reimbursement with Swiss insurer KPT covering up to 80%).

The American College of Radiology does not recommend whole-body MRI screening for average-risk asymptomatic adults, citing 16% false positive rates and unclear cost-effectiveness. However, the value proposition centers on:

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THE SPEED & DATA ADVANTAGE

❌TRADITIONAL (Once symptoms appear) GP waitlist → Tests → Specialist → Diagnosis → Portal access 3-6 weeks 2-4w 2-6 weeks 4-8 weeks Doctor reviews first

└─→ 3-5 MONTHS | Stage 2-3 | Masante.be / NHS app | NO AI | NO analysis | NO action plan | Just raw data and your GP giving you some general guidelines

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✅ PREVENTIVE (Before symptoms) Book → Scan → Results + Doctor → Digital dashboard → Treatment 1-4w 10-60m Same day/1 hour Within 24-72h Immediate

└─→ 2-6 WEEKS | Stage 0-1 | Personal dashboard LIVE AI analysis | Trends | Action plan | What to do NOW

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The United States and Europe are building preventive health infrastructure along fundamentally different trajectories, shaped by distinct healthcare financing models, regulatory frameworks, and consumer expectations.

The United States has produced companies that have reached significant scale quickly. Function Health has enrolled over 200,000 members. Prenuvo operates 20+ clinics with an estimated $250 million annual revenue run rate. Superpower raised a $30 million Series A from Forerunner Ventures and operates through 2,000 partner labs nationwide. Midi Health, focused on women's midlife hormonal care, has built a virtual-first model that integrates with major insurance networks.

The capital intensity of these businesses is substantial. Prenuvo has raised $192 million. Function Health's $2.5 billion valuation reflects investor belief that the market for longitudinal biomarker tracking is large and defensible. Even Neko Health, despite operating primarily in the UK, raised its $260 million Series B from US-based Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from General Catalyst.

This capital concentration reflects structural characteristics of the US market.

The regulatory pathway, while not trivial, allows for faster iteration. The FDA provides a framework for medical device approval and diagnostic claims, but companies offering screening services primarily navigate state-level medical practice regulations rather than centralized national approval processes.

The venture capital ecosystem has also developed pattern recognition for capital-intensive healthcare infrastructure businesses. Investors who backed companies like Oscar Health, Ro, and Hims & Hers understand the unit economics of consumer health businesses and the timeline required to reach profitability.

Europe faces a compounding set of constraints that slow the buildout of preventive health infrastructure. These constraints interact with one another, creating friction at each stage of company development.

Regulation creates friction. Medical imaging and screening services in Europe navigate complex, often fragmented regulatory environments. CE marking provides a pathway for medical devices, but the approval process for diagnostic protocols and clinical claims varies by country. National health authorities impose additional requirements on what can be marketed as preventive screening. A company launching in France must navigate French regulatory requirements; expanding to Germany requires navigating German requirements. This fragmentation increases time to market (typically 18+ months vs months in the US) and limits the speed at which companies can expand across borders.

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EUROPE'S THREE-PART CHALLENGE

1. REGULATION

🇺🇸US: ✓ State-level practice regulations ✓ FDA framework well-established
→ Launch in MONTHS

🇪🇺EU: ⚠ Fragmented 27 national authorities ⚠ CE mark + country requirements
→ Launch in 18+ MONTHS

2. REIMBURSEMENT

🇺🇸US: ✓ Consumer-pay culture established ✓ Direct-to-consumer viable
→ Companies scale without insurance

🇪🇺EU: ⚠ "Healthcare is free" expectation ⚠ Out-of-pocket feels like luxury
→ Aeon breakthrough = exception, not rule

3. CAPITAL

🇺🇸US: ✓ $200M+ growth rounds common ✓ Pattern recognition for healthcare infra → Prenuvo ($192M), Function ($358M)

🇪🇺EU: ⚠ Smaller funds, lower risk appetite ⚠ Even Neko raised from US investors → Lightspeed + General Catalyst led Series B

Different paths, not different viability ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Reimbursement determines viability. In most European countries, healthcare is perceived as “free” at the point of use, funded through taxation. This cultural expectation creates resistance to paying out-of-pocket for services, even preventive ones. Out-of-pocket spending feels like a luxury rather than an essential health investment. Public health systems, already strained, do not prioritize prevention in their coverage frameworks. This creates a catch: companies need scale to drive down costs, but achieving scale requires overcoming consumer reluctance to pay for services they believe should be covered.

Aeon's breakthrough: securing reimbursement from Swiss insurer KPT, which covers up to 80% of MRI scan costs, represents the first crack in this wall. It demonstrates that European insurers will pay for prevention when the clinical case is strong enough. But it remains an exception, not the rule.

Capital availability remains constrained. European venture capital has grown substantially (EU health tech funding grew from €3.2B in 2020 to €7.8B in 2023) but the risk appetite for capital-intensive, hardware-reliant healthcare infrastructure remains lower than in the US. US VCs seem more comfortable backing founders who attack massive, regulated markets like healthcare with capital-heavy models. They understand that building physical infrastructure (clinics, labs, imaging centers) requires patience and large checks. European VCs, by contrast, remain more conservative on healthcare hardware. Funds are smaller, check sizes are more cautious, and the preference skews toward software and SaaS models that scale without physical footprint. The willingness to deploy $100M+ into a company that needs to build 50 physical locations simply doesn't exist at the same scale in Europe, for the reasons mentioned above. Even when European companies secure large rounds, the capital often comes from US investors (Neko's example).

The constraints are real, but they are not insurmountable. Europe has every ingredient needed to build world-class preventive health infrastructure, it simply needs to act with urgency and strategic coordination.

Proof points already exist. Aeon secured the first insurance reimbursement in Europe, proving that payers will cover prevention when the value case is compelling. Lucis raised €8.5M from General Catalyst and Y Combinator, demonstrating top-tier US capital recognizes the European opportunity. Neko Health's $260 million Series B and 100,000-person waitlist prove European consumers will pay out-of-pocket at scale. These are not hypothetical bets, they are live, functioning businesses validating the market.

Demographics make inaction expensive. By 2050, 25% of Europeans will be 65+. 60% of deaths in Europe are from preventable chronic conditions. European governments spend over €1 trillion annually treating chronic diseases. The economics of prevention are straightforward: detecting pre-diabetes costs €200-500; lifetime diabetes treatment costs €50K+. Early cancer detection via MRI costs €2,500; late-stage treatment costs €200K+. When the state bears treatment costs, prevention becomes infrastructure investment, not consumer luxury.

The buildout requires strategic partnerships across the entire wellness spectrum. Prevention needs distribution, and the infrastructure already exists across two critical channels.

Premium wellness clubs offer immediate access to affluent, health-conscious consumers. Equinox, Third Space, Animo Studios, have members already spending €200-400/month on fitness & wellness. These partnerships create natural conversion funnels. Imagine Third Space members receiving annual Neko scans as part of their membership, or Third Space integrating blood biomarker tracking and merging part of the tech and data on both apps.

Participation via sports events that reach millions of performance-driven consumers annually. HYROX, Ironman, T100 Triathlon, and major marathons (London, Berlin, Paris) and ultra-distance races attract athletes obsessed with data, optimization, and longevity. These are consumers who track VO2 max, lactate threshold, and recovery metrics religiously. Preventive health screening is the logical next layer. Partnership models: mandatory pre-race health screening (€299 Neko scan included in registration), post-race biomarker analysis showing training impact, or VIP athlete packages bundling MRI screening for injury prevention. Sports federations and race organizers become distribution partners at scale. And of course connecting the data and making partnerships with wearables companies as well like Whoop, Oura, Garmin and others.

General population studio/clinics presence is where mass-market adoption actually happens. Not everyone joins Equinox or races Ironman. This is where preventive health needs physical presence. Lucis already operates through 400+ partner labs across Europe. The model scales: place a Neko scanning pod or blood draw station inside mid-market gyms. Make it as routine as a PT session or nutrition consultation. The infrastructure already exists, it just needs integration across premium, performance, and general population segments.

Europe must act as a single health market. The fragmentation of European healthcare regulation is killing speed and wasting talent. We've seen this pattern before: fragmented markets lose to unified ones.

We cannot afford to repeat this in healthcare. Europe needs a regulatory sandbox for preventive health (a fast-track approval process for companies operating across EU member states, harmonized clinical standards, and unified reimbursement frameworks). If we don't act, talent and capital will continue flowing to the US, Middle East, and Asia, and European patients will wait years longer for access to preventive care that already exists elsewhere.

Action points:

The question is not whether Europe will build preventive health infrastructure, it's whether we build it in 3 years or 10. The clinical case is proven. The consumer demand exists. The capital is starting to be available. What's missing is speed, coordination, and strategic ambition. Europe has the opportunity to lead in preventive health, not follow and do so before its too late.

Sources:

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