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Oura Acquires Counsel Health for $625M to Expand Health Services
Confirmed
In Short: Oura, a smart ring manufacturer, announced it will acquire Counsel Health, an AI-native primary care company, for $625 million in an all-cash deal.
Oura, a smart ring manufacturer, announced it will acquire Counsel Health, an AI-native primary care company, for $625 million in an all-cash deal. The acquisition is expected to close before the end of 2026, combining Oura's biometric data with Counsel's care platform and on-demand physicians.
Oura CEO Tom Hale said the move aims to connect device insights to action, allowing users to understand their physiology and take health actions across various needs, from quick questions and prescriptions to chronic care and referrals. Hale emphasized that the acquisition is part of a plan to integrate wearables, clinical AI, and access to doctors based on biometric data.
The ring on your finger is getting a doctor’s office to go with it: The smart ring maker Oura is buying the American start-up Counsel Health for $625 million (about €562 million) in cash. This acquisition is seen as a way to connect consumer wearable devices to clinical care, reflecting a growing desire to leverage AI chatbots in healthcare.
Oura has already been integrating Counsel into its app since June, allowing users to connect with Counsel’s medical AI for personalized advice and chat with a physician when needed, all within the Oura app. The companies plan to expand their partnership to build across preventative care, acute care, and specialty and chronic care, extending the scope beyond a single primary-care chat experience.
Counsel Health, which calls itself an 'AI-native primary care company,' uses the app to deliver AI-generated responses and insights based on users' health data from their wearables. These insights can then proceed to a conversation with one of its in-house physicians, who can provide diagnoses, prescriptions, and referrals. The conversation can escalate to a board-certified physician within minutes inside the Oura app.
Oura reported preliminary fiscal 2026 revenue of approximately $1.75 billion, up 92% year over year, and it has more than six million members. Counsel Health raised a $25 million Series A a year ago, led by Andreessen Horowitz (a12z) and GV, and had previously disclosed $36 million in funding.
The deal comes a few weeks after Oura postponed its up to $2.2 billion IPO indefinitely, citing “uncertainty in the IPO market.” Oura also announced that its revenue grew 153% year-over-year to $533 million for the quarter ended on September 30.
Counsel CEO Muthu Alagappan will join Oura as chief clinical AI officer, alongside the company’s 70 employees. Oura and Counsel counter with numbers of their own: More than 90 percent of surveyed Oura members who use Counsel said their ring data helped them get better care, and Counsel’s physicians were rated 4.6 out of 5 on average.
What's confirmed
- Oura said the acquisition combines its biometric data with Counsel’s care platform and on-demand physicians, and Oura CEO Tom Hale framed the move as a way to connect device insights to 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."
- Oura agreed to acquire Counsel Health, an AI-native primary care company, for $625 million in an all-cash deal subject to adjustments, with the companies saying the transaction is expected to close before the end of 2026.
- Oura said it has already been integrating Counsel into the Oura app since June, and TechCrunch described users connecting with Counsel’s medical AI for personalized medical advice and chatting with a physician when needed all within the app.
- Oura and Counsel plan to expand their existing partnership to build across preventative care, acute care, and specialty and chronic care, extending the scope beyond a single primary-care chat experience.
- Counsel CEO Muthu Alagappan will join Oura as chief clinical AI officer, alongside the company’s 70 employees, Bloomberg reports.
What's still developing
- Counsel Health is the maker of a chatbot that users can talk with about health concerns before being transferred to a clinician for treatment and diagnosis over telehealth.
- Doctor visits could start with a readout of your Oura ring data. Doctor visits could start with a readout of your Oura ring data. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
- Researchers at Charles University in Prague and the Kempelen Institute in Bratislava concluded in an analysis published in the journal AI and Ethics that the Oura ring’s A.I. assistant can pose a high risk to users’ privacy and autonomy.