- Oura will buy AI primary care startup Counsel Health for $625M in cash.
- The deal follows Oura’s September 29 decision to postpone its IPO.
- Oura’s preliminary fiscal 2026 revenue is about $1.75B, up 92% year over year.
Oura, the Finnish-founded, San Francisco-based smart-ring maker, has agreed to acquire AI-native primary care company Counsel Health for $625 million in cash. The deal moves Oura from health monitoring into medical services.
The acquisition will bring Counsel’s chat-based medical platform and its licensed physicians into Oura’s health intelligence ecosystem. The companies have worked together since June, when Counsel’s service was integrated into the Oura app.
The deal comes after Oura postponed its planned Nasdaq IPO indefinitely on September 29, citing “uncertainty in the IPO market”. It had planned to raise up to $2.2 billion by selling 50 million shares at $40 to $44 each.
From tracking health to delivering medical care
Counsel Health combines medical AI with access to licensed, board-certified physicians. Users can ask its AI medical questions and receive personalised guidance, with the option to connect with a physician when a clinical consultation is needed.
Through the existing integration, Oura members can access Counsel within the Oura app. The companies now plan to expand the partnership across three areas: preventive care, acute care, and specialty and chronic care. They had also shared plans to partner on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ 10-year ACCESS Model, Fierce Healthcare reported.
Oura CEO Tom Hale said the acquisition would help members move from understanding their health data to taking action: “Oura helps members understand their physiology and, with Counsel, they can take action on their health across a range of needs, from quick questions and prescriptions to lab results, chronic care, and referrals.”
The strategy gives Oura a way to connect continuous biometric monitoring with clinical support. Rather than only alerting users to changes in sleep or heart rate, the platform could help them seek medical guidance when those changes warrant attention.
Counsel brings AI and physicians into the Oura ecosystem
Founded by Dr. Muthu Alagappan, Counsel Health raised a $25 million Series A in 2025, led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and GV. PitchBook estimates it had raised about $36 million in total, so Oura is paying roughly 17 times that figure.
Alagappan will join Oura as chief clinical AI officer, alongside Counsel’s approximately 70 employees, Bloomberg reported.
“At Counsel, we’ve built medical AI around trust, safety and responsibility, keeping physicians in the loop for clinical decisions. Oura’s data gives clinicians objective context, trended biometrics, and member engagement to deliver more informed care. From the start, our teams bonded over a joint vision, shared culture, and mission, further solidifying as we negotiated our deal over the past few months,” said Alagappan.
Counsel will keep serving its existing and new enterprise partners, so its offering will not be limited to Oura members. That gives it a route to patients through health plans, providers, and employers. The acquisition is expected to close before the end of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions.
A bigger bet as smart-ring competition grows
Oura leads the smart-ring market, but rivals are investing in new hardware and health features. India’s Ultrahuman secured $70 million, led by Qualcomm Ventures, in September 2026 at a $365 million valuation, as Tech Funding News reported on Ultrahuman’s plans to add AI and gaming to its smart ring.
Samsung competes with its Galaxy Ring, and newer players such as CUDIS are bringing AI coaching into wearable tracking. TFN previously examined whether CUDIS could challenge Oura.
Oura’s own numbers show how far the category has grown. The company says it has more than six million members and expects about $1.75 billion in fiscal 2026 revenue. Its edge may now lie in connecting wearable data to medical services rather than competing only on sensors, battery life, and tracking features.
Revenue grows as IPO plans remain on hold
Alongside the deal, Oura reported preliminary revenue of $533 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, up 153% year over year. For fiscal 2026, it reported approximately $1.75 billion, up 92%.
Oura reached an $11 billion valuation after a $900 million round led by Fidelity in October 2025. TFN reported on Oura’s rise to an $11 billion valuation. The IPO would have valued it at up to $15 billion at the midpoint of its price range. We also tracked the plan in its coverage of Oura’s Nasdaq IPO filing.
The Counsel deal shows Oura still spending on growth despite the delay. Its challenge is to turn wearable insights into trusted clinical services while keeping physicians in charge of medical decisions. Can a company that tells people how they slept become the place they go when the answer is bad?
