Oura ring 4
Courtesy: Aura
LISBON — Samsung's foray into smart rings doesn't matter to the head of the product category leader, Ora — in fact, Tom Hill says he's seeing an increase in business.
“I'm sure a big tech company will make an announcement saying, ‘Hey, this is an important category. It would be a big thing. “I think it might be helpful,” Hill told CNBC in an interview this week.
“In terms of the impact on our business, it has had no impact. In fact, our business has become stronger since it was announced.”
In a wide-ranging interview with CNBC at the Web Summit conference in Lisbon, Hill discussed Oura's plans for new areas of knowledge it wants to give users, how he thinks about new devices and the company's intentions for international expansion.
Oura's flagship product is the Oura Ring 4, a device known as a smart ring. It's equipped with sensors that can track certain health metrics, allowing Oura app users to learn more about the quality of their sleep or how prepared they are to tackle the next day.
The company was founded in Finland in 2013, and analysts have called it a leader in the smart ring space. Oura said it has sold more than 2.5 million of its rings since it launched its first product. CCS Insight expects Oura to end the year with a 49% market share in smart rings.
Competition is starting to raise its head in space. Samsung, the world's largest smartphone maker, made its first venture into smart rings this year with the Galaxy Ring, which some analysts say has put the device category on the map and popularized it among a wider audience.
Hill is keen to position Oura as “a health company and a science company from the start”, aiming for its product to be “clinical grade”. Ora is seeking FDA approval to use its ring in diagnostics, though Hill declined to provide many additional details.
He said Oura's focus on health and science is what sets it apart from competitors.
“If you really think of yourself as a healthcare company, it's very different in a lot of different ways and positions that you might take toward data privacy. … So instead of being like a technology company where the data is kind of extracted,” Hill said. Oil and then using it to create some sort of advantage for network effects, we're really a healthcare company where your data is sacred.”
Oura's business model is based on selling hardware, as well as a $5.99 monthly subscription service that allows users to get ideas from their episode. Oura says it has nearly 2 million subscribers.
“We look more like a software company than a hardware company,” Hill said. “I think that's a function of the business model, the fact that it works. Our subscribers continue to pay.”
Ora views nutrition as the next “pillar.”
Oura takes the data collected by the ring to provide insight to its users, focusing on a person's sleep and activity levels and readiness to face the day.
The company is now testing nutrition, where users can take a photo of their meal and record it in the Oura app, Hill said. Also in nutrition, he highlighted Oura's recent acquisition of Veri, a metabolic health startup that can take data from continuous glucose monitors — small devices inserted into a person's arm — to give insight into someone's blood sugar levels. . This, combined with Oura's food tracking feature, can tell the user how certain meals affect their glucose levels, Hill says.
Many of today's glucose monitors are invasive and need to be inserted into the skin. Some observers see a non-invasive glucose monitor on wearable equipment as something that could be transformative, but Hill warns that goal will be difficult to achieve.
“I think the idea of a wearable (device) getting there was definitely the Holy Grail, and like the Holy Grail, they may never find it, because it's a difficult problem to solve with any kind of precision.” Hill said.
He added, “Never say never. Of course technology continues to advance and all capabilities continue to advance.”
New devices and artificial intelligence
While Oura currently only sells rings, Hill sees the company working to develop new products in the future. He refused to go into details.
“I think we will undoubtedly see other Oura-branded products outside of the ring,” he promised.
He also said that the company hopes to work with other devices as well, even if not Oura's own devices.
Like many hardware companies, e.g apple And Samsung, Oura is looking at ways it can use advanced AI capabilities to give users more personalized insights. Smartphone makers have talked about so-called “AI agents,” which they see as assistants able to predict what the user wants.
Oura is testing an AI product called Oura Advisor along the same lines.
“Think of it like the doctor in your pocket who knows all the data about you,” Hill said.
International payment
Hill's presence at the Web Summit in Lisbon underscores his drive to increase awareness of the Oura brand in markets outside the United States, especially as more people learn about smart rings.
“I think the point about this category being something people learn, and the unique benefits of that maturity, is in our favor,” Hill said. “We are expanding globally.”
He said he was particularly “excited” about venturing into Western Europe, including countries such as the UK, Germany, France and Italy. Looking further, an IPO for the company is not currently on the cards, Hill said, adding that operating as a private company gives Oura more “freedom.”
“I really enjoy the freedom we get as a private company,” he said. “We are accountable to our investors and shareholders, but they are willing to let us operate with a lot of license.” “And if we decided we wanted to become an unprofitable company because we wanted to invest in owning some category of healthcare software, that would be fine. They would be happy with that.”
