Small company is ahead of Samsung, Xiaomi

A ring weighing just a few grams is helping Oura become the new “king” of the wearable device market, with a valuation of more than 10.9 billion USD after 12 years of establishment.

As the investment world focuses on next-generation AI hardware, a Finnish company founded more than a decade ago has quietly carved out a niche: native AI hardware for wearables. Instead of smart glasses or watches, the company’s product is the Oura Ring, a ring that weighs less than 6 grams.

Oura, the popular smart ring company, is raising $875 million in a Series E round that values ​​it at $10.9 billion . That’s double the valuation of its Series D round late last year. The investment could surpass $900 million when it closes, making it the largest funding round in the company’s history, according to people familiar with the matter.

Billion Dollar Journey

In parallel, Oura has also just received a $250 million revolving credit line from a group of major banks including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Barclays. CEO Tom Hale likened Oura's growth to "a rocket" and affirmed that in more than 30 years of working, he has never witnessed such a strong business quarter.

Oura was founded in 2013 in Oulu, Finland, by three engineers: Petteri Lahtela, Kari Kivelä, and Markku Koskela. Coming from tech companies like Nokia and Polar, they realized the lack of a device that could accurately measure sleep quality and the body's ability to recover. From there, the idea of ​​a health-tracking ring was born.

Oura Ring can track most of the necessary health indicators. Photo: Bloomberg .

In the early days, the founding team had to use their own health data for testing due to lack of users. Cash flow was tight, so employees were sometimes delayed in their salaries. In 2015, the company called for crowdfunding on Kickstarter, reaching its $100,000 goal in just 15 hours and ending the campaign with $650,000 . A study from Stanford University later confirmed that Oura Ring was the most accurate wearable device for measuring sleep, helping the brand gain quick attention.

The second-generation Oura Ring was launched in late 2017 and went into mass production in 2018. By 2019, it was sold in more than 100 countries. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a surge in demand for health monitoring, pushing Oura sales into the millions and paving the way for a $100 million funding round in 2021.

Rapid development

Oura has sold around 5.5 million units to date, 3 million of which were last year alone. Revenues have reached $500 million and are expected to reach $1 billion by 2025. Oura Rings are used by many professional athletes and celebrities such as Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Prince Harry.

The latest generation, Oura Ring 4 integrates 18 signal paths instead of 8 as before, helping to collect more accurate data. In addition, the Smart Sensing platform and Oura Advisor tool using AI also help in analyzing health trends, providing personalized recommendations. In addition to sleep tracking, the product also measures heart rate, blood oxygen, body temperature, blood pressure and menstrual cycle.

Earlier this year, Oura received “ Medical Device” designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), making its data medical-grade. It also acquired startups Veri and Sparta Science, and partnered with Dexcom to develop diabetes management technology.

Oura sold 5.5 million rings in 2024. Photo: PocketMint .

Oura uses a “hardware-plus-subscription” model, with the ring costing around €399 and the service costing €5.99 a month. About 20% of its revenue comes from this segment. The company’s major customers include the US Department of Defense and NASA, which use the Oura Ring to monitor the health of soldiers and astronauts.

The new capital will help Oura expand research into non-invasive blood glucose measurement technology, develop health monitoring models for the elderly and pregnant women, and expand into the Asian market.

Oura has grown from three engineers with a dream to help people sleep better to an icon in the wearables space. As the lines between technology, data, and health continue to blur, this tiny ring is proving that smart hardware can still change the way people understand their bodies.

Source: https://znews.vn/chiec-nhan-be-nho-dinh-hinh-de-che-ty-usd-post1595052.html