$100 million Series C raise will continue Ōura’s development of personalised health insights into preventative longer-term health care via its wearable tech.
Finland-based health tech wearable manufacturer Ōura Health Ltd has announced it has raised $100m in Series C funding. The round, which brought total funding to $148.3m, was led by The Chernin Group and Elysian Park, the investment arm of the LA Dodgers. Round participants included Temasek, JAZZ Venture Partners and Eisai, growth investors Bedford Ridge and One Capital, as well as existing investors Forerunner Ventures, Square, MSD Capital, Marc Benioff, Lifeline Ventures, Metaplanet Holdings and Next Ventures.
Longevity.Technology: When it comes to savvy, stylish tech that provides the lowdown on what your body’s up to, as Beyoncé predicted, if you like it, you should put a ring on it. The Ōura ring tracks sleep in all stages and provides details on daily activity and insights that can be used to make healthspan improvements. Add in temperature tracking and Ōura becomes a fertility tracker and COVID early-warning device.
Ōura, which is led by CEO Harpreet Singh Rai, intends to use the funds to invest in all areas of business, including software and hardware development, people, R&D, as well as marketing and customer experience.
“These funds provide Ōura with substantial runway for important future opportunities,” commented Singh Rai in a company blog [1].
The Ōura Ring is a wearable for the finger that sports two infrared LED sensors, body temperature sensors and an accelerometer that tracks the wearer’s sleep, activity and heart rate.Ōura was founded in 2013, the Ōura Ring is a wearable for the finger that sports two infrared LED sensors, body temperature sensors and an accelerometer that tracks the wearer’s sleep, activity and heart rate. Boasting Jack Dorsey, Michael Dell, Arianna Huffington, Marc Benioff, the NBA, the WNBA, NASCAR and UFC among its fans, Ōura has also announced a partnership with the Seattle Mariners Major League Baseball franchise.
“The Ōura Ring measures changes in a person’s biometric data with unmatched precision, empowering team members to better monitor their health and make more informed decisions to achieve performance goals.”
“We are thrilled the Seattle Mariners have chosen Ōura to help take their training and conditioning programs to the next level,” Singh Rai. “Proper recovery is critical to professional athletes since it directly impacts their ability to train and perform at their best. The Ōura Ring measures changes in a person’s biometric data with unmatched precision, empowering team members to better monitor their health and make more informed decisions to achieve performance goals.”
Ōura has also crossed from the celebrity world to the academic; the Ōura Ring was at West Virginia University’s Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute and DTRA / DIU, contributing to work on illness detection, symptom profiles and recovery. A virtual study by the Scripps Research Translational Institute found that changes tracked by the ring could flag potential C19 cases and a UCSF TemPredict study published data in Nature demonstrating the link between temperature data gathered by the ring and the detection of fever.
Of particular interest, is the QCycle research project at the Kriegsfeld Lab at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), which demonstrated that by looking at Ōura Ring data for the first 1-2 weeks of the menstrual cycle, the luteinising hormone (LH) surge that triggers ovulation could be detected days in advance for all the study participants.
“Eventually, we believe wearable technology will change the way health is practiced by consumers and the healthcare industry alike…”
Over 500,000 rings have been sold, and Singh Rai said he plans to invest some of the new funds into helping people better understand what to do with their health data.
“We see more people recognizing the value of having agency and understanding over their health information, signifying that societal needs are evolving and the true age of health ownership is now,” he said. “But when we say wearable device – we don’t just mean tracking your steps. People want more and need to know what to do with their data and how to take action toward understanding their health and improving it.
“Eventually, we believe wearable technology will change the way health is practiced by consumers and the healthcare industry alike … We see a future where consumers and the healthcare ecosystem embrace change to shift the focus from short-term sickcare to prioritizing preventative longer-term health care [1].”
[1] https://ouraring.com/blog/series-c-announcement/
