Oura, the Finnish company that turned the smart ring into a wearable category of its own, took its biggest step toward the public markets this week. On September 3 it filed its S-1 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, revealing a business growing far faster than the wearables market around it.

The numbers explain the timing. In the nine months ending June 30, revenue rose 74 percent year over year to $1.21 billion, according to Reuters, while net income climbed to $60.8 million from $1.6 million a year earlier. Oura says it sold 3.6 million rings over the past year and counts roughly five million paid members. The filing follows the launch of the Oura Ring 5 — the company's slimmest and lightest ring yet — and comes about a year after a private funding round that valued the company at around $11 billion.

Oura created the modern smart-ring market and has dominated it for years. But the S-1 lands as challengers attack from every direction, each betting on a different angle.

Ultrahuman, which had to redesign its ring after a US trade ruling sided with Oura in a patent dispute, announced this week that it raised $70 million with backing from Qualcomm's venture arm. The company says future rings will run software directly on the device, with ambitions that stretch from AI interactions to games. Its $479 Ring Pro starts shipping in the US this month. France's Circular is putting an NFC chip into its upcoming Ring 3 series for tap-to-pay, alongside on-finger vibrations, an FDA-cleared ECG for atrial fibrillation detection, blood-pressure trend tracking and glucose monitoring. China's RingConn, whose Gen 3 launched in May at $349, is pushing vascular-health insights and vibration alerts. Samsung's Galaxy Ring remains the strongest option for people locked into its ecosystem, though it lacks some of the advanced health features rivals now offer. Dreame has shown a ring with a small touchpad, and Pebble's Halo ring — currently India-only — adds a screen.

The direction of travel is unmistakable: features that once belonged to smartphones are being squeezed into two-gram titanium bands. It is also ironic. The original appeal of smart rings was that they made health tracking less intrusive than a smartwatch or phone — a screen-free way to stay connected to your body. If the current race continues, the pitch may soon be a miniature smartphone worn on a finger.

None of this has dented Oura's momentum so far: the company is profitable, growing at a 74 percent annual clip and entering the public markets as the clear category leader. The open question is whether the crown survives contact with the challengers — and what a smart ring is ultimately for: a discreet health sensor, or the next wearable computer.

Sources