Key Takeaways
- Oura, a health-tracking ring company, is on pace to reach $1 billion in sales in 2025, doubling its 2024 revenue.
- The company faces increasing competition from Big Tech companies like Google, Samsung, and Apple, which are launching new health-related wearables and AI services.
- Oura’s strategy to stay ahead includes expanding its device connectivity, partnering with medical tech companies, and leveraging smartphones to capture health signals.
- The company is exploring new ways to measure health data, including brainwaves, core body temperature, and heart data from the torso.
- Oura sees an opportunity to use AI to combine individuals’ data from wearables with medical records to better understand overall health.
Introduction to Oura
Oura, a Finnish startup, has been gaining popularity with its health-tracking ring that measures sleep, physical activity, and other biometrics from the finger. The company has been growing rapidly, with more than half of the 5.5 million total Oura Rings ever sold being purchased in the last year alone. Oura’s success has not gone unnoticed, with Big Tech companies like Google, Samsung, and Apple taking notice and launching their own health-related wearables and AI services. According to Tom Hale, CEO of Oura, the company is on pace to reach $1 billion in sales in 2025, doubling its 2024 revenue.
The Evolution of Oura
To stay ahead of the competition, Oura is looking to expand its device connectivity and partner with medical tech companies. Hale believes that the finger is more accurate than the wrist for tracking health data, which is why the company has stuck with rings instead of expanding to more popular devices like smartwatches. However, Oura is exploring new ways to measure health data, including brainwaves, core body temperature, and heart data from the torso. The company is also considering partnering with other wearables that can provide unique and different health measurements. For example, Oura already works with glucose maker Dexcom to combine ring-measured metrics, like physical activity, heart rate, and sleep, with glucose data.
The Role of Smartphones
Hale also sees an opportunity to use smartphones to capture health signals. He believes that smartphones can be used to analyze a person’s cough or measure their stress by the sound of their voice. This technology is not new, with services like Canary Speech and Together by Renee already claiming to deduce mood signals from a user’s voice. However, Hale believes that AI can be used to combine individuals’ data from wearables with medical records to better understand overall health. This approach can help providers understand patients’ health more comprehensively, according to Arielle Trzcinski, a principal analyst covering healthcare at Forrester. Trzcinski notes that "folks don’t want to be going to the doctor all the time, and the clinician also needs to have a better picture of what’s happening with this person outside of just sitting in my exam room for five minutes."
The Increasing Competition
Oura’s competition is heating up, with Google, Samsung, and Apple launching new health-related wearables and AI services. Google now has an AI health coach similar to Oura’s, and Apple added hypertension alerts to the Apple Watch and heart rate monitoring to AirPods this year. Samsung launched its first health tracking ring, which directly competes with Oura, and is also working on an AI-powered health chatbot. Oura’s independence is seen as an advantage, with Hale citing the company’s ability to work with both iPhone and Android as a benefit. However, the company will need to continue improving its health tech and software to stand out, according to Grace Harmon, a tech and AI analyst for eMarketer. Harmon notes that the real differentiation will come from software, especially the quality of recovery, stress, and insights that a device can deliver.
The Future of Oura
Oura will need to navigate the new world of AI, with people increasingly turning to ChatGPT for questions about health and wellness. The company will also need to compete with new types of wearables, like Meta’s smart glasses, for consumers’ dollars and attention. However, Hale believes that wearables could play an important role in helping people with difficult-to-treat chronic illnesses manage their symptoms. He thinks that further tailoring Oura’s apps and readings for individual needs can help people with chronic fatigue syndrome or lupus, for example. By leveraging AI and partnering with medical tech companies, Oura can provide more personalized and accurate health insights, which can be game-changing for people with chronic illnesses. According to Hale, "how do I sense it coming quickly so I can intervene quickly? I think that’s game changing."
