Smart ring maker Oura looking to expand to the Middle East

Oura is knocking on new doors in the Gulf. And the doors are answering.

The Finnish smart ring company is now in active talks with UAE health authorities to explore new health technology initiatives. The aim is clear. Grow in the Middle East. Grow fast. And grow with the right partners.

Fresh off a massive 900 million dollar funding round, Oura now carries an 11 billion dollar valuation. Its chief executive, Tom Hale, shared the news during an interview while visiting the region.

“We have had a couple of conversations with the Ministry of Health, so we are here to see them further,” he said. “There are some really interesting explorations for us to do here.”

The conversations are still early. But the signal is loud and clear. Oura sees the Gulf as the next big frontier.

How does it work?

At its core, Oura builds a smart ring. Small. Sleek. Always on. And quietly obsessive about your health.

Founded in 2013, Oura designs rings that track key health signals such as:

• Sleep quality
• Blood oxygen levels
• Heart rate and recovery
• Early signs of illness

The newest version, Ring 4, now comes in an advanced ceramic build. Tougher. Lighter. More premium.

These rings sit in the wider wearables market, going head to head with giants like Samsung Electronics and rising players like Ultrahuman.

In the UAE, Oura already works with GluCare, a diabetes management center in Dubai. There is no official Oura retail store yet, but the rings are available online and in select shops.

Behind the scenes, the tech runs on long term biometric tracking. Not quick snapshots. Not gimmicks. Oura watches trends over time, then turns them into daily insights you can actually act on.

Why does it matter?

The numbers tell a powerful story.

Oura has now sold more than 5.5 million rings worldwide. Over half of those were sold in the past year alone. That is rocket fuel growth.

Revenue reached around 500 million dollars in 2024. That is double the year before. Next year, the company expects to hit 1 billion dollars.

“The numbers are getting to be quite large,” Mr Hale said. “We are growing 100 percent year over year. Much faster than the market for wearables.”

The smart ring market itself is exploding. According to Grand View Research, the sector is expected to grow from 348.6 million dollars in 2024 to more than 1.1 billion dollars by 2030. That is a growth rate north of 21 percent every year.

For the UAE and the wider Gulf, the stakes are bigger than gadgets.

Wearables are becoming frontline tools in preventive health. They flag sleep debt. They detect early stress. They can even warn of illness before symptoms feel real. For health systems that want to reduce chronic disease and hospital overload, this data is gold.

And Oura knows it.

“There is a lot of alignment between our vision for preventive health and wearables and what is happening in the UAE,” Hale said.

The context

The timing is no accident.

The Gulf is sprinting into digital health. And the UAE is leading the pack. It is rolling out national health platforms, pushing preventive care, and betting hard on data driven medicine.

“The Middle East is a very interesting place to partner because there is a very forward looking healthcare system,” Hale said. “People here are using really interesting techniques.”

Saudi Arabia is also on Oura radar. The company has already held exploratory talks there as part of its wider regional push.

What makes the region stand out is the rare mix of three forces moving in sync:

• Ambitious public health strategies
• Deep capital reserves
• A population eager to adopt wearables

As Hale puts it, the Gulf is “very fertile ground for innovation and health care”. That includes both prevention and intervention. Add in one of the highest wearable adoption rates anywhere, and the picture comes into focus.

One more thing stands out. Oura is not in a rush to go public. “We have no shortage of capital,” Hale said. In plain terms, the company can afford to play the long game.

And in the Gulf, long games often pay the biggest dividends.