Smart ring maker Oura is buying its way deeper into healthcare. The company announced on Tuesday, November 10, that it will acquire Counsel Health, an AI-powered primary care startup, for $625 million, according to TechCrunch, Fierce Healthcare and HIT Consultant.
What Counsel Health does. Counsel combines a chat-based medical service with licensed physicians, and its service has already been built into the Oura app, according to TechCrunch. The companies plan to expand their partnership across preventive, acute, specialty and chronic care. Counsel will keep serving existing and new enterprise partners, including health plans, health systems and employers, so its care model can reach people who do not wear an Oura ring.
The deal. Most sources say the $625 million is all cash, subject to adjustments, while one outlet describes a mix of cash and stock, so the cash-only account is better supported. Reports differ on closing: TechCrunch says the deal is expected to close before the end of 2027, while another source says before the end of 2026. The coverage does not say whether regulatory approval is needed.
The people. Counsel chief executive Muthu Alagappan will join Oura as chief clinical AI officer, along with Counsel’s 70 employees, according to Bloomberg reporting cited by TechCrunch. Oura chief executive Tom Hale said in a press release that Oura helps members understand their physiology and that Counsel adds quick questions, prescriptions, lab results, chronic care and referrals. Alagappan said Counsel built medical AI around trust, safety and responsibility.
Oura’s position. Oura postponed an IPO of up to $2.2 billion indefinitely a few weeks earlier, citing uncertainty in the IPO market, according to TechCrunch. Another outlet says the postponed offering was targeting a $15.6 billion valuation. TechCrunch says Oura’s revenue for the quarter ended September 30 was $533 million, up 153% from a year earlier, and its fiscal 2026 revenue was about $1.75 billion, up 92%. Oura was valued at $11 billion after a $900 million late-stage round in October 2025.
Counsel’s background. Counsel raised a $25 million Series A about a year ago, led by Andreessen Horowitz and GV, and PitchBook estimates its total funding at $36 million, according to TechCrunch. At $625 million, the price is a large multiple of the money it raised. The article does not give Counsel’s revenue or user numbers.
The competition. TechCrunch names RingConn and Ultrahuman among Oura’s competitors in smart rings. By buying a healthcare service, Oura is trying to make its ring more than a sleep and activity tracker.
Why it matters. Wearables collect health data every day, and linking that data to a doctor chat is a step toward AI-assisted primary care. It also raises questions about how medical advice from AI is supervised, how data is protected, and what happens to health data when a company is bought. For readers in the US and UK, the key points are that the service is currently an Oura feature and that the deal has not yet closed.
Sources: TechCrunch, Fierce Healthcare and HIT Consultant. Details are as reported by those outlets and the companies.
Stethoscope (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, public domain
