Oura is going public, but these smart ring companies are coming for its crown
Finnish wearables maker Oura has filed to go public, revealing rapid growth just as a wave of rivals steps up efforts to challenge its dominance of the smart ring market. The filing shows a company at the height of its commercial success, but it comes amid intensifying competition from companies including France's Circular, China's RingConn and India's Ultrahuman, each pursuing different features to differentiate their products, from payment functionality to on-device software.
Oura filed to go public on 3 September, reporting revenue that nearly doubled to $1.21 billion for the nine months to 30 June, with 3.6 million rings sold over the past year and around five million paid members. The filing follows the recent launch of the Oura Ring 5. Rivals are pushing in varied directions: Circular's upcoming Ring 3 will support tap-to-pay via NFC, RingConn has added haptic vibrations, and Ultrahuman, which raised $70 million backed by Qualcomm's venture arm, aims to run software directly on its rings for AI interactions and gaming, having redesigned its device after losing a US patent dispute to Oura. Other entrants, such as the Pebble Halo and Dreame Ring, are introducing screens and touchpads, prompting concerns that smart rings could lose the minimal, screen-free appeal that first made them popular.
- Oura filed to go public on 3 September with $1.21 billion in revenue
- Rivals Circular, RingConn and Ultrahuman are challenging its market lead
- New rings add payments, haptics and on-device software, raising screen-creep concerns
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Oura, a Finnish company, makes smart rings, small wearable devices that track sleep, activity and other health data without needing a screen. The firm has become the best-known name in this fast-growing niche of the wearable technology market and has now filed to list its shares on the stock market, a step that will make its finances and ownership public for the first time.
The move comes as several other companies try to take a share of the market Oura has largely defined. These include Circular from France, RingConn from China, and Ultrahuman from India, along with newer entrants such as Pebble and Dreame. Each is trying to stand out with different features, such as contactless payment, vibration alerts, or built-in software for games and AI, rather than simply copying Oura's minimal, screen-free design.
This matters because it marks a turning point for a product category that started as a simple, understated health tracker. As rivals add more functions and hardware like screens and touchpads, there is debate over whether smart rings will keep the stripped-back appeal that made them popular, or evolve into something closer to a smartwatch worn on the finger.