As the year ends, Oura is celebrating a successful 2023, marked by continued growth, expansion into women’s and metabolic health, and a slate of new partners that have created a robust and diverse partnership network.  

“Growth and expansion have been huge focus areas for us this year. We’ve been steadily building a strong partnership ecosystem and adding world-class features into the Oura experience,” said Tom Hale, CEO. “Oura is becoming an iconic, global brand that is changing the way we think about long-term health and healthspan. With 10 billion hours of wear, 10 years of data tracked, and surpassing our millionth Oura Ring sold, we’re just getting started.” 

This year, Oura has focused on the growth of its strong ecosystem of products, features, and partners.

Product Feature Innovation

This year has been one of solid growth and momentum for Oura. We have introduced a slate of new features to serve its members — including a new Stress Management feature set, Circles, Share Report, and Chronotype — released customizable iOS widgets alongside a new Apple Watch companion app and complications, and tracked more than 2.3 billion hours of sleep on the heels of our 10-year anniversary. 

In September, we debuted Cycle Insights, an upgraded feature formerly known as Period Prediction that shows members which phase of the menstrual cycle they are in. In addition, we recently launched a Pregnancy Tag update, which automatically disables Cycle Insights and predicted period start date when a member tags “Positive pregnancy test” or “Pregnancy.” 

Cycle Insights marks an important milestone in Oura’s journey towards becoming a body literacy tool for women. Rather than static calendar logs presented by traditional cycle tracking apps, the feature uses individual biometrics; it helps members better understand their cycle, which can vary month-to-month, using real-time variations in skin temperature. An enhanced understanding of the menstrual cycle can empower members to feel more in tune with their own bodies, helping them to make informed decisions about their health and well-being.

Building a Robust Partnership Ecosystem 

Amid this progress, Oura continues to diversify our business and revenue strategy by building an expansive partnership ecosystem. To date, our partnership ecosystem is 600+ strong and growing, powered by an application programming interface (API) that allows the data integration between partners to create transformative experiences. The advantage of this type of network is twofold: partners are able to leverage Oura’s continuous, accurate data to support their customers, while we have the ability to reach new audiences. We are doubling down in specific focus areas with partners across several sectors including women’s health, metabolic health, behavioral health, and fitness and lifestyle.

Women’s Health 

Last year, Oura partnered with Natural Cycles, the first FDA-cleared birth control app that allows members to sync temperature trend data straight from the Oura Ring, offering a seamless alternative to measuring their temperature manually. Since the integration launched in August 2022, there has been a more than 350% increase in women who have enabled the Oura and Natural Cycles integration. These integrations represent a significant portion of new members; additionally, members who use Natural Cycles are the highest retaining of all cohorts. In a recent survey, 98% of respondents reported that they will continue using the integration. 

Oura is committed to establishing connections with more women’s health partners in the future so that no matter where a person chooses to track, Oura can be a measurement companion. 

“As women, our bodies are incredibly complex, powerful, and unique. Using Oura Ring for cycle tracking and creating body literacy just makes sense because it’s attuned to your unique rhythms and patterns, not the average,” said Dorothy Kilroy, Chief Commercial Officer. “We have several exciting opportunities with incredible partners in the works and we’re excited to continue to grow this part of our partnership ecosystem to reach as many women as possible.” 

Oura has also doubled down on women’s health research with the announcement of two new studies with researchers at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF): 

The first will examine the physiological patterns of individuals with irregular menstrual cycles. Many members with conditions affecting their cycles, such as PCOS, struggle with traditional cycle-tracking apps and algorithms because their models are typically built based on individuals with regular cycles. As part of the study, 300 participants who have been diagnosed with PCOS and/or have irregular menstrual cycles will be asked to wear an Oura Ring for ~6 months and will complete three months of daily, at-home hormone monitoring. 

The second study, which has recently been registered on clinicaltrials.gov, is based on individuals with regular menstrual cycles and similarly uses Oura Ring to examine physiological patterns throughout the menstrual cycle. Through these studies, Oura aims to improve user experience, support participant-driven science where findings are publicly available, and help generate momentum in the field.

Metabolic Health 

Nearly 9 in 10 adults have one or more metabolic diseases defined as excess blood glucose, abdominal obesity, hypertension, elevated fasting triglycerides, or low HDL cholesterol.

In an effort to integrate complementary technology to solve complex health challenges, Oura has partnered with a number of partners including several continuous glucose monitor (CGM) companies: January, Supersapiens, and Veri. Because the relationship between glucose metabolism and sleep quality is bidirectional, wearables like Oura Ring and CGMs together can help to paint a clear picture of how nutrition is impacting sleep quality and vice versa. 

Building on the release of Cycle Insights, Oura has partnered with Cronometer on the release of a new Cycle Tracking feature, pulling in Cycle Insights data to help women track and analyze their menstrual cycles. The integration allows Cronometer users to view cycle data from Oura on the Dashboard and the Diary pages of Cronometer’s app and overlay cycle phase data in any chart, helping to identify trends across the two phases.

Hello Inside, a metabolic health platform that helps women manage their physical changes at all stages of life partnered with Oura to pull in Oura sleep metrics alongside existing glucose measurements. This cross-pollination of insights has inspired over 10% of Hello Inside’s member base to integrate Oura data. “Our integration with Oura has brought a new and actionable dimension to our clients’ insights – making their experience even richer,” said Mario Aichlseder CEO and co-founder of Hello Inside.

Oura also partnered with Noom, a leading digital healthcare company that builds healthy habits and promotes better living. The two companies collaborated on an 8-week pilot study using Oura Ring to personalize Noom care plans and member interactions. Following promising results from the pilot (Noom users who used Oura Ring were 2.5x more engaged and 2.4x more likely to reach their weight goal), the two are collaborating on a continuation of the partnership to offer an Oura sleep health course in the Noom experience to support members on their metabolic journey. 

“The deep connection between sleep, nutrition, and overall health is undeniable,” said Saeju Jeong, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Noom. “Noom and Oura have a shared commitment to using science, technology, and research to empower people to take a proactive approach to their health. We’re excited to work together to continue learning more about how improved sleep can help people to change behavior and meet their goals.”

This type of integration helps to connect the dots between sleep, metabolism, and lifestyle behaviors to paint a more holistic picture of health. 

Behavioral Health 

Oura is committed to changing the conversation around mental and physical health and pioneering new ways of integrating the two. Working with mental health partners allows Oura to help fill in the gaps as members seek improvements in overall well-being. Notable partners include Talkspace, Headspace, and Thrive Global. 

Earlier this year, Oura and Talkspace announced a partnership that offers members a way to share personalized sleep data directly with their dedicated licensed therapist through Talkspace’s secure, encrypted platform, powered by Oura’s Share Report feature. Both companies are dedicated to creating new ways for healthcare practitioners to understand how a person is progressing in between visits and to promote education and body literacy. 

To give members more tangible ways to effectively recover from day-to-day stressors and reduce the likelihood of chronic stress, Oura has partnered with Headspace, the provider of the world’s most comprehensive digital mental health platform, and Thrive Global, the leading enterprise behavior change technology company founded by Arianna Huffington. Rolling out this year, members can access select stress-focused Headspace content including meditations, guided breathwork, and muscle relaxation exercises in the Oura App. Thrive will launch a series of sleep and stress management challenges on their platform, with the option for users to integrate sleep and stress data from ŌURA, to encourage the development of healthy, sustainable habits.

“We’re always looking for innovative ways to bring Headspace to more people, making quality mental health care more approachable and accessible,” said Russell Glass, CEO of Headspace. “We’re honored to partner with Oura to integrate physical health measurement with stress management tools, including meditation and mindfulness resources, bringing members more tangible ways to recover from day-to-day stressors and reduce the likelihood of chronic stress.”

Fitness & Lifestyle

Integration between Oura and partners in the fitness space is a natural fit and we have specifically sought out partners that approach health, fitness, and sport with the same balanced and nuanced perspective. Oura partnered with Equinox, the high-performance luxury fitness club chain, to integrate Oura Ring in Equinox Circle with a co-branded Rest & Recovery Kit. 

FitOn, a leading digital fitness platform, partnered with Oura to create an exclusive restorative movement and meditation series designed to support Activity, Readiness, and Sleep scores. 

In 2022, Strava, the subscription platform at the center of connected fitness, and ŌURA partnered to import Strava activities into the Oura App experience and share ŌURA Readiness and Activity Scores onto the platform. It was one of ŌURA members’ most requested collaborations and allowed members of both communities to evaluate performance and recovery in a more holistic way. ŌURA and Strava are continuing to invest in the integration to further highlight ŌURA’s Sleep and Readiness Scores in Strava activity posts.

“The partnership between ŌURA and Strava is natural as we focus on helping the global community make progress towards their best,” said Mateo A. Ortega, Vice President of Connected Partnerships at Strava. “By integrating ŌURA’s personalized biometric information into our platform, Strava becomes a destination where you can view your holistic active life and optimize the information to pursue your best.”

Removing Barriers to Entry and Opening Up Access 

Oura announced this year that Oura Ring is now covered and reimbursable via Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) and Health Savings Accounts (HSA), allowing US-based members to take advantage of pre-tax dollars to invest in Oura Ring.

OuraRing.com supports purchases with FSA and HSA cards, giving millions of Americans who are enrolled in FSAs and HSAs easier access to purchase Oura Ring. Additionally, a new partnership with Health-E Commerce® has made Oura Ring available for purchase on FSA Store® and HSA Store®. This is an important step forward in working with the existing framework of the healthcare system to give more people access to the life-changing impact of Oura. 

Assembling a World-Class Medical Advisory Board

In April, Oura assembled a world-class Medical Advisory Board, which included a range of experts who offer a unique and diverse perspective on a variety of health-related topics, including fertility, pregnancy, menopause, sleep, and more.

Now, we’ve added Dr. Andy Walshe, a human performance expert, Dr. Eleni Jaswa, a board-certified ObGyn and reproductive endocrinologist, Dr. Jake Deutsch, a board-certified emergency medicine physician, Dr. Sara Gottfried, physician, bestselling author, and women’s health and functional medicine specialist, and Dr. Elissa Epel, a renowned health psychologist and researcher. This group of experts and thought leaders will help co-create research, inform feature development, and build content to educate the Oura Community.

RELATED: Meet the Oura Medical Advisory Board