Breaking
BRYoung gospel singer dies in accident on BR-116 in CearáCNThe French Oposito Theater Company's Mechanical Elephant parades in Shilin Night Market and makes a lively debut at the 2026 Taipei Arts FestivalBRMan dies after breaking into home, fighting with teenager and being stabbed by his mother in MGBRWanted for murder in Várzea Paulista is arrested after giving a false name in Campo Limpo PaulistaDEHacker attack on Berlin's state network: sensitive defense data leaked on the darknetITSerious accident at the Mille Miglia rally: spectator hit and killed in the Brescia areaDEGreek fighter jet crashes at air show in Tanagra - both pilots deadBRSeptember 7th holiday in Campina Grande: see what opens and closesRUProsecutor General of Ukraine Ruslan Kravchenko spotted in a Kyiv clinic, office confirms NABU searchesRURussian Armed Forces hit a cargo ship carrying Western military cargo in the port of ChernomorskBRYoung gospel singer dies in accident on BR-116 in CearáCNThe French Oposito Theater Company's Mechanical Elephant parades in Shilin Night Market and makes a lively debut at the 2026 Taipei Arts FestivalBRMan dies after breaking into home, fighting with teenager and being stabbed by his mother in MGBRWanted for murder in Várzea Paulista is arrested after giving a false name in Campo Limpo PaulistaDEHacker attack on Berlin's state network: sensitive defense data leaked on the darknetITSerious accident at the Mille Miglia rally: spectator hit and killed in the Brescia areaDEGreek fighter jet crashes at air show in Tanagra - both pilots deadBRSeptember 7th holiday in Campina Grande: see what opens and closesRUProsecutor General of Ukraine Ruslan Kravchenko spotted in a Kyiv clinic, office confirms NABU searchesRURussian Armed Forces hit a cargo ship carrying Western military cargo in the port of Chernomorsk
BackOura Files for IPO as Smart Ring Market Heats Up with New Competitors
Oura Files for IPO as Smart Ring Market Heats Up with New Competitors
BREAKING
TechCrunch41 minutes agoBusiness2 min readUnited States

Oura Files for IPO as Smart Ring Market Heats Up with New Competitors

Quick Look

  • Oura filed to go public on September 3 after reporting nearly doubled revenue to $1.21 billion for nine months ended June 30 and selling 3.6 million rings in the past year.
  • The move comes amid rising competition from companies like Ultrahuman, Circular, RingConn, Samsung, and Dreame, which are adding smartphone-like features such as contactless payments, haptic alerts, and on-device processing to smart rings.

AI-generated summary

Why It Matters

Oura has dominated the smart ring market for years but now faces increasing competition from companies adding smartphone-like features to their rings, prompting the company to file for an IPO.

Font size

The smart ring market is getting crowded, and Oura isn’t waiting around to see what happens next: it officially filed to go public on September 3.

The company is killing it right now. The Finnish outfit’s revenue nearly doubled to $1.21 billion for the nine months ended June 30. Oura said it sold 3.6 million rings over the past year, and that it has around 5 million paid members. The company’s move to go public follows the recent launch of the Oura Ring 5, its slimmest and lightest ring yet.

But while Oura has largely dominated the smart ring market for years, rivals are emerging from all corners to dethrone it, each betting on a different angle. For example, French company Circular announced this week that its upcoming ring will allow users to tap to pay with their ring, while Chinese company RingConn debuted a ring this year that added haptic vibrations.

Indian company Ultrahuman separately announced this week that it raised $70 million with backing from Qualcomm’s venture arm as it looks to build a ring that it says will be able to run software directly on the device and eventually power everything from AI interactions to games.

The race to beat Oura isn’t just about enhanced health and sleep tracking anymore. It’s now about seeing which company can cram the most smartphone-like features into a two-gram titanium band before someone ends up shipping a ring that lets you doomscroll TikTok or answer calls or do your taxes. I mean, we’re already seeing smart rings with screens, like the Pebble Halo, although it’s currently only available in India, as well as rings that promise touchpads, like the Dreame Ring.

The irony is that the initial appeal with smart rings was that they made technology and health tracking feel less intrusive than devices like smartwatches and smartphones, given you can step away from a screen while still keeping tabs on your health. With the way things are headed in the smart ring industry, though, we may just end up slipping mini smartphones on our fingers.

All of this is to say that the smart ring market is getting increasingly confusing, so we’ve rounded up the most notable contenders vying for Oura’s crown.

Ultrahuman

Earlier this year, Ultrahuman unveiled its third-generation smart ring, the $479 Ring Pro, which is set to begin shipping in the U.S. in mid-September. Ultrahuman’s U.S. business was disrupted in October 2025 after the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled in Oura’s favor in a patent dispute. The ruling prevented the company from importing new ring inventory into the country, so Ultrahuman developed the Ring Pro with a redesigned form factor in order to circumvent Oura’s patent.

The Ring Pro features a redesigned heart-rate sensing system aimed at improving signal quality during sleep, along with a new dual-core processor that enables more accurate data collection and greater on-device processing. As noted earlier, Ultrahuman looks to be more ambitious with future rings as it aims to go beyond sleep and health tracking.

Circular

Circular’s upcoming Ring 3 series, which consists of a Pro model and a Slim option, is expected to launch early next year. Both of the smart rings will feature an integrated NFC chip for contactless payments and on-finger vibrations that can be used for silent wake-up alarms, reminders, vital health alerts, and more.

The Ring 3 Pro features a slimmer design than its predecessor and comes with FDA-cleared ECG for AFib detection, blood pressure trend tracking, glucose tracking, advanced sleep analysis, and comprehensive biometric monitoring.

Pricing for the upcoming rings is not yet available.

RingConn

The RingConn Gen 3, which launched in May and starts at $349, features vascular health insights that use sensor data from the ring to assess changes in vascular strain over time after calibration with externally measured blood pressure values.

It also tracks heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, sleep, activity, and stress, among other metrics. Additionally, it features vibration alerts for health changes, sedentary reminders, and low battery. Unlike Circular, which leans on haptics to make its ring more communicative, RingConn mostly sticks to vibration as a health-alert mechanism.

Samsung

Samsung became the first major tech giant to launch a smart ring in 2024. The Galaxy Ring, which costs $399, is arguably the strongest contender for anyone already invested in Samsung’s ecosystem of devices.

Compared with other smart rings on the market, the Galaxy Ring is relatively basic when it comes to advanced health and sleep tracking. It lacks features such as sleep apnea detection, which are offered by RingConn, Oura, and Ultrahuman, as well as AFib detection, which is available on Circular and RingConn smart rings.

Dreame

Dreame, a relatively new entrant to the smart ring market, unveiled a ring earlier this year with haptic alerts for alarms, calls, messages, and more, along with a small touchpad that lets you do things like skip a song or snap a photo on your phone. It’s also said to offer heart rate tracking, blood oxygen monitoring, heart rate variability insights, sleep analysis, and more.

Pricing and availability have yet to be announced.

What to Watch

AI outlook — possibilities, not facts

  • Oura's IPO will proceed successfully given its strong financial performance

    Likely · Within months

  • Ultrahuman will begin shipping its Ring Pro in the U.S. in mid-September as planned

    Likely · Within weeks

Open Questions

  • What is Oura's projected valuation post-IPO?
  • How will Ultrahuman's redesigned Ring Pro avoid patent infringement issues in the U.S.?
  • When will Circular's Ring 3 series launch and what will be its price?

Related Topics

This article was originally published by TechCrunch.

Related Stories

XDOF in late-stage talks to raise Series B at $1.2 billion valuation
Developing·

XDOF in late-stage talks to raise Series B at $1.2 billion valuation

XDOF, a robotics data startup co-founded by UC Berkeley researchers Philipp Wu and Fred Shentu, is in late-stage talks to raise a Series B round at a $1.2 billion valuation led by 8VC, less than three months after emerging from stealth and following a $70 million Series A in June. The company, which has annualized revenue approaching $50 million, provides teleoperation data and annotation systems for training general-purpose robots and is partnering with UC Berkeley’s AI Research lab to release a large robot training dataset called ABC.

TechCrunch
2 min read
Polymarket Legal in California with $50 Welcome Bonus via Promo Code CBSSPORTS
Developing·

Polymarket Legal in California with $50 Welcome Bonus via Promo Code CBSSPORTS

Polymarket is legal in California as a CFTC-regulated prediction market, offering new users a $50 trading bonus with promo code CBSSPORTS after a $10+ deposit. The platform allows trading on sports event contracts including NFL, NBA, MLB, and other leagues, with specific team markets for California franchises like the Lakers, Dodgers, Rams, and Chargers. Bonus credits are non-withdrawable and must be used on the platform, with profits converting to withdrawable cash upon settlement.

CBS Sports
3 min read
More on this topicoura