Oura Health Oy, the maker of the popular Oura health and fitness ring, is closing in on a roughly $11 billion valuation after selling about 3 million rings over the past year.
The new round is expected to close by the end of this month and could still exceed $900 million, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters. Oura plans to use the funds to scale production, invest in development and expand internationally, the people said.
Tom Hale, Oura’s chief executive officer, declined to comment on the company’s fundraising process. But in an interview, he said Oura has been growing “like a rocket ship,” adding that he has “never had a stronger quarter” in his 130 quarters working in business.
Recent growth has been fueled by female shoppers, retail store sales, purchases made with health savings account funds, and international expansion. Oura launched its latest ring in Japan and Germany earlier this year and is planning further global rollouts. Today, the company sells its devices across 4,000 stores.
The US military is Oura’s largest business customer, with tens of thousands of service members using the rings for fatigue tracking and research. Still, Hale said revenue from that arrangement is a relatively small contributor to overall sales.
Hale also said that Oura has widened its margins in recent quarters, though he declined to disclose profitability.
“The combination of hardware and subscription revenue puts us on a different level than most hardware companies,” he said. About 20% of Oura’s revenue now comes from subscriptions, he added.
New product form factors are under consideration, though Hale emphasized that a ring will remain central to Oura’s strategy. He called the device ideal for “fit, fashion and accuracy.”
Compared with smartwatches, fitness rings are still in their infancy and make up a small slice of the overall wearables market — though some consumers are choosing to use both. A common setup is wearing a smartwatch during the day and using the smaller ring for sleep or exercise tracking.
