Smart rings have raised a Finnish company to $11 billion 0 9

"Smart rings" for health monitoring, produced by the Finnish company Oura, are experiencing insane popularity. They help basketball player LeBron James and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo improve their sleep quality, while track athlete Hunter Woodhall's life was saved by them. Oura fitness trackers are also worn by Hollywood stars — from Will Smith to Jennifer Aniston.

During training sessions at Euro 2024, the England national team players wore Oura smart rings — it was particularly important for the coaching staff to monitor the players' condition at the end of the season. It is unknown how much the data from the rings directly helped improve the performance of the "Three Lions," but Gareth Southgate's team significantly improved in the closing stages. In the Round of 16 and quarter-finals, the British snatched victories over Slovakia and Switzerland in extra time, respectively, and in the semi-finals, they defeated the Netherlands thanks to a goal from Ollie Watkins in the 90+1 minute.

"Whether you manage a professional sports organization or coach elite forces, ensure that your team always performs at the highest level with accurate biometric data," advise Oura developers. "Use precise and continuous data to prioritize rest, adjust training schedules, monitor recovery, and identify signs of illness, injury, and fatigue."

The company's website claims that users of the smart rings have improved their overall well-being by 87%, sleep quality (88%), ability to cope with stress (74%), and work productivity (71%).

"Every morning, we use Oura rings to determine the players' well-being — we track their pulse, stress, and anxiety levels over the past 24 hours. Our psychologist and well-being team can, for example, see if a player is sleeping before a game," said Craig Malholland, head of football development and talent management at Nottingham Forest, to The Athletic.

At night, the ring records key metrics such as heart rate variability, blood oxygen levels, and skin temperature, sending data to a smartphone for comparison with baseline metrics established by the user over previous weeks. Any deviation indicates that the user's body is under stress, which can be caused by anything from alcohol or caffeine consumption during the day to overtraining or the flu, notes The Guardian.

Oura products are used in top sports leagues. One of the first agreements with the Finnish company, founded in 2013, was made by the National Basketball Association (NBA). In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, when league games were held in a "bubble," its management purchased 2,000 smart rings costing $300 to facilitate early virus detection. Currently, superstars of the NBA, such as Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James and New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, use the rings.

In addition to the NBA, Oura smart rings are worn by players in the National Hockey League (NHL), National Football League (NFL), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), NASCAR, Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), World Surf League (WSL), and several famous clubs, including Real Madrid. For the past few years, the tracker has been used by football legend Cristiano Ronaldo.

Smart rings have gained widespread popularity far beyond sports. The fitness tracker is used by Prince Harry (who values sleep and mental health), Hollywood actors Will Smith (who strives for physical and mental excellence), Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston (who fight aging), as well as socialite Kim Kardashian (who focuses on beauty, sleep, and recovery).

It is not surprising that with such reach, Oura's revenue and valuation are rapidly growing — in its 12 years of operation, the company has sold over 5.5 million devices, with more than half of these sales occurring in 2025. After recently securing $900 million in new funding to continue developing its technologies, the company was valued at $11 billion, notes SportsPro. Oura's revenue for 2024 was $500 million, and the revenue for the current year is projected to reach $1 billion.

The price of the new Oura Ring 4 line is £499, plus £5.99 for a monthly subscription that provides access to the company's app, which tracks their data. Subscriptions account for about 20% of the company's revenue.

"The new funding reflects the strength of Oura's business and the trust that millions of users place in us every day," admitted the company's CEO, Tom Hale. "We are proud to create not just a product, but a global movement towards proactive health, helping people understand their bodies, make more informed lifestyle decisions, and interact more effectively with their healthcare providers. Our technologies help consumers, employers, insurers, and doctors work together to scale preventive medicine."