23. ŌURA
Oura has pioneered the smart ring market since the San Francisco-based company launched its eponymous connected device in 2015. But over the last twelve months, Oura has hastened its disruption of the broader wearables market, showing its evolution well beyond the original roots in sleep tracking.
The company released the latest version of its flagship product, the Oura Ring 4, in October, which it says is its most accurate iteration yet thanks to additional signal pathways in the ring's sensors, allowing for better tracking of things like blood oxygen levels and heart rate.
It also helps dial in a wide range of metrics, features and health indicators that Oura provides wearers via its app, everything from daily readiness and sleep scores in the morning to stress and activity tracking during the day and into the evening.
Oura is also further leaning into the proactive side of wellness insights that its ring can provide. In March, the company launched an AI-powered health coach that uses algorithms and LLMs to analyze data and biometrics to offer personalized guidance around long-term trends in sleep or how meal timing might be impacting metabolic health. The AI health coach is also able to create plans around goals like improving sleep or improving stress resilience.
The company has also made major strides in women's health, adding features around menstrual, period and pregnancy cycles, both tracking and insights.
All of that is part of Oura's move into becoming an all-encompassing health and wellness tracker, with the goal of, as the company puts it, helping wearers "live healthier, longer."
In December 2024, Oura raised a $200 million Series D that it said would help "fuel" healthcare innovation. Participating in that round was Dexcom, the global leader in glucose biosensing, which also partnered with Oura to allow users of its glucose monitor to share data between the two products.
Oura CEO Tom Hale told CNBC in November that the company is testing out nutrition, allowing users to take pictures of their meal and load it into the Oura app. In September, Oura acquired Veri, a metabolic health startup that uses data from continuous glucose monitors to give users insight into their blood sugar levels.
"Metabolic health is the natural next dimension of the Oura Ring holistic health experience, and one that our customers have told us they want," Hale said in a release announcing the Veri acquisition.
Oura started with sleep, migrated to cardiovascular health, stress & resilience, and women's health, and is always looking for the "next pillar," according to Hale.
"Metabolic health is an important next horizon and the team at Veri brings deep experience in that space," Hale said.
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