Oura

Market position

Oura is a leading smart ring maker, ranked No. 23 on CNBC's 2025 Disruptor 50 list, and reported revenue above $500 million in 2024 with expectations of $1 billion in 2025. It competes with smart ring makers Samsung and RingConn, fitness wearable companies Whoop and Garmin, and general-purpose smartwatches from Apple and Samsung, and has been broadening features to compete in the wider wearables category.

Oura positions finger-based measurement as more accurate than wrist-worn devices, combines a discreet all-titanium form factor with multi-day battery life, and layers a subscription software platform with 50+ metrics, AI-based guidance and lab-based Health Panels on top of the hardware. Its sensors sample biometric data at a higher frequency than wearables from competitors such as Apple and Fitbit, and it emphasizes validation studies and data privacy and security practices.

Technology

Optical photoplethysmography using red, infrared and green LEDs, a digital temperature sensor and an accelerometer housed in a seamless titanium ring body, with company-developed algorithms deriving heart rate, heart rate variability, respiration rate, blood oxygen and temperature trends. Oura Ring 4 introduced Smart Sensing technology for improved accuracy and battery life (5-8 days per charge, 20-80 minute charging, water resistance to 100 m, Bluetooth Low Energy, automatic firmware updates). Software includes AI-driven features such as Oura Advisor and an internal AI metric, Total Customer Experience (TCX), used to score customer support conversations. The company cites multiple laboratory validation studies of its sensors.

Go-to-market

Direct online sales through ouraring.com paired with a subscription membership, supported by content marketing via The Pulse blog, member stories, media coverage and product reviews. The company uses brand ambassadors (tennis players Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz ahead of the 2026 US Open), co-branded collaborations (Gucci in 2022, Equinox Rest & Recovery Kit in 2023), integrations and bundled trials with partners such as Natural Cycles and Dexcom, research collaborations (an IRB-approved trying-to-conceive study with Maven Clinic), and enterprise/government contracts.

Individual consumers tracking sleep, recovery, fitness, stress, heart, metabolic and women's health, including athletes; plus organizations and government customers such as the U.S. Department of Defense and enterprise health programs.

Geography

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, with additional locations in Oulu and Helsinki, Finland, and San Diego, United States; the company serves customers worldwide, with membership pricing published for the U.S., EU, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Switzerland and rest of world, and an app localized into 12 languages.

History

Founded in Oulu in 2013, Oura raised US$2.3 million in seed funding in 2015 led by Lifeline Ventures, ran a Kickstarter campaign for its first-generation ring in 2016 and launched the product at the Slush conference in 2017. Harpreet Singh Rai served as CEO from 2018 to 2021, followed by interim CEO Michael Chapp, with Tom Hale appointed CEO in 2022. The third-generation ring was announced in October 2021, Oura Ring 4 in October 2024 and Oura Ring 5 in June 2026. Headquarters moved from Oulu to San Francisco. Oura acquired Proxy Inc. (digital identification) in May 2023, Veri (metabolic health) in September 2024 and Sparta Science (enterprise health analytics) in October 2024. Funding progressed through a US$100 million Series C in May 2021, a US$200 million Series D in 2024 at roughly $5.2 billion valuation, and a Series E of over US$900 million in October 2025 at an $11 billion valuation, bringing total capital raised to approximately $1.5 billion. In May 2026 the company filed confidentially with the U.S. SEC for an initial public offering.

Risks & controversies

The company's business depends on a subscription requirement: the ring and app function with substantially limited insights if a member does not maintain an Oura Membership. Oura competes with much larger consumer electronics companies including Apple and Samsung. CEO Tom Hale has said the company has "got some work to do" before going public, and its May 2026 IPO filing remains subject to SEC review.