Oura Health Oy is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

health technology Health technology is defined by the World Health Organization as the "application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures, and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of liv ...

company, known for the Oura Ring (stylized Ōura), a

smart ring A smart ring is a wearable electronics device with advanced mobile components that combine features of mobile devices with innovative features useful for mobile or handheld use. Smart rings, which are typically the size of traditional rings or la ...

used to track sleep and physical activity. The company was founded in 2013 by Petteri Lahtela, Kari Kivelä, and Markku Koskela. Harpreet Singh Rai was the CEO from 2018 until 2021, when he was replaced on an interim basis by Michael Chapp. In 2022, Tom Hale was appointed CEO. The company is headquartered in Oulu, Finland, with other locations in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

, Finland, and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, United States. The company raised its initial US$2.3 million seed funding in 2015 led by Lifeline Ventures, introduced the first-generation ring via Kickstarter in 2016 and launched the ring at the

Slush Slush, also called slush ice, is a slurry mixture of small ice crystals (e.g., snow) and liquid water. In the natural environment, slush forms when ice or snow melts or during mixed precipitation. This often mixes with dirt and other polluta ...

tech conference in 2017. In 2020, Oura Health received the 'Best Consumer Wellness Company' award from the

UCSF The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It con ...

Digital Health Awards and ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine's "100 Best Inventions of 2020" mentioning especially its

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

-related partnership with NBA. Oura announced

Series C A venture round is a type of funding round used for venture capital financing, by which startup companies obtain investment, generally from venture capitalists and other institutional investors. The availability of venture funding is among the ...

funding of US$100 million from

The Chernin Group TCG Capital Management, LP, Doing business as, d/b/a as TCG or The Chernin Group, is an American investment advisory firm focused on private equity investments in the media, entertainment, technology, sports and consumer and digital media sectors. ...

, Elysian Park,

Temasek Temasek (also spelt Temasik) is an early recorded name of a settlement on the site of modern Singapore. The name appears in early Malay and Javanese literature, and it is also recorded in Yuan and Ming Chinese documents as ''Danmaxi'' ( or ...

, JAZZ Venture Partners and Eisai in May 2021; funding in earlier rounds came from Forerunner Ventures, Square Ventures,

MSD Capital MSD Capital is an American private Investment company, investment firm that manages the capital of Michael Saul Dell, Michael Dell and his family. The firm, which is based in New York City, New York and has offices in Santa Monica and West Palm B ...

(

Michael Dell Michael Saul Dell (born February 23, 1965) is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Dell Technologies, one of the world's largest technology infrastructure companies. He is ranked the ...

Marc Benioff Marc Russell Benioff (born September 25, 1964) is an American internet entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Salesforce, an enterprise cloud computing company. In September 2018, Benioff acquired ''Time (mag ...

, Lifeline Ventures, Metaplanet Holdings, Next Ventures, and private investors. In May 2023, Oura Health Oy acquired tech startup, Proxy Inc., which makes digital identification tools.

Products

The company's main product is the Oura Ring, which collects health data from the wearer's finger like a regular activity bracelet or

heart rate monitor A heart rate monitor (HRM) is a personal monitoring device that allows one to measure/display heart rate in real time or record the heart rate for later study. It is largely used to gather heart rate data while performing various types of phy ...

. The activity, heart rate, body temperature, respiratory rate and sleep data collected by the ring are transmitted wirelessly via

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...

to a smartphone app. Oura launched in 2015 with a Kickstarter campaign for the first-generation ring (which was bulkier than the newer versions). The second and third-generation rings came out in 2018 and 2021, respectively. The Oura ring is intended to be comfortable and not disrupt sleep or exercise. The operation of the Oura Ring is based on infrared LEDs. The light from the LEDs is reflected through the skin and the changes in the reflection are analysed by an algorithm developed by the company. This allows the heart rate and

heart rate variability Heart rate variability (HRV) is the physiological phenomenon of variation in the time interval between heartbeats. It is measured by the variation in the beat-to-beat interval. Other terms used include: "cycle length variability", "R–R variabi ...

to be determined. Oura's sensors capture the wearer's biometric data at significantly higher frequency than wearable products from competitors such as

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

and

Fitbit Fitbit (stylized as fitbit) is an American consumer electronics and fitness company. It produces wireless-enabled wearable technology, physical fitness monitors and activity trackers such as smartwatches, pedometers and monitors for heart rate, ...

. The device can also measure body temperature and menstrual cycle. The battery is said to last for a week on a single charge. The ring weighs , depending on ring size. Oura Health announced the third-generation Oura Ring on 26 October 2021, with new features including 24/7 heart rate monitoring, blood oxygen monitoring, and

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prediction. In March 2022, Oura announced that it has sold more than one million rings.

Partnerships

In May 2022, Oura and fashion brand

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launched a ring with details in 18-karat

yellow gold Pure gold is slightly reddish yellow in color, but colored gold in various other colors can be produced by alloying gold with other elements. Colored golds can be classified in three groups: * Alloys with silver and copper in various proportions ...

. It comes with Oura's Gen3 technology.

Reception

Innovation

As a start-up, Oura Health has been praised for its innovation in the field of wearable electronics. The smart ring was listed as one of the ''Time's'' "100 Best Inventions of 2020" after gaining media attention from it being used by players in the NBA.

Endorsements

The Oura Ring has been adopted by a number of celebrities such as

Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Joanna Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an American actress and film producer. She is the recipient of various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Since her career ...

Prince Harry Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. He is the younger son of Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. He is fifth in the line of succ ...

and

Kim Kardashian Kimberly Noel Kardashian (formerly West; born October 21, 1980) is an American socialite, media personality, and businesswoman. She first gained media attention as a friend and stylist of Paris Hilton, but received wider notice after the s ...

, referring to her high sleep scores. It has been reviewed by multiple health technology analysts.

Criticism

Accuracy

Oura initially received some criticism for the accuracy of their products while being also credited for it. A test on the second-generation ring found that on average their sleep tracking feature was only 58.9% accurate. However, their third-generation ring has shown significantly better accuracy in sleep tracking, making it one of the most accurate wearables. Oura's workout heart rate measurement during exercise does not () match the measurement accuracy of wearable heart rate sensors like the

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H10. The ring must be very tight on the finger for the Oura Ring to measure workout heart rate. Otherwise, Oura might not show the heart rate information for the exercise, or the results may be incorrect.

Membership fees

After the release of the third-generation ring, Oura released a US$5.99 monthly membership (with a one-month free trial) for their products that put certain aspects of user data behind a paywall. The release of this membership program received much criticism and anger from Oura users and reviewers who highlighted the expensive cost of the membership on top of the US$299 price of the Oura Ring.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oura (company) Finnish companies established in 2013 Technology companies established in 2013 Technology companies of Finland Finnish brands Activity trackers