Dive Brief:
- Dexcom has invested $75 million in smart ring manufacturer Ōura and agreed to integrate and co-market technologies, the companies said Tuesday. Ōura is now valued at more than $5 billion, they said.
- The partners will integrate Dexcom’s glucose sensors and Ōura’s smart rings, which track metrics such as sleep, activity and stress. Integration will support data flows that enable people who use both companies’ devices to track how glucose levels affect other health metrics.
- Dexcom and Ōura will cross-sell each other’s products and plan to launch the first app integration in the first half of 2025.
Dive Insight:
Dexcom, like its main glucose sensor rival Abbott, has expanded beyond its core focus on diabetes and moved into the health and wellness market. The company recently introduced an over-the-counter version of its continuous glucose monitor (CGM), Stelo. Dexcom designed the sensor for people with Type 2 diabetes who don’t take insulin, but it can be used by people without diabetes.
The Ōura partnership opens another front in Dexcom’s move into wellness by connecting its CGMs to smart rings that incorporate sensors to collect data on heart rate, body temperature, blood oxygen and activity. Ōura has added an opt-in feature that allows users to track meal timing and analyze how the time they eat affects health metrics such as sleep, stress and recovery.
Ōura CEO Tom Hale said in the announcement that 97% of Oura members “have expressed interest in understanding how the food they eat impacts their health.” Hale outlined how the Dexcom partnership addresses that interest and equips users to make informed decisions about adapting their behavior.
“Working together, Ōura and Dexcom will help members decide what and when to eat by surfacing correlations between activities like sleep and exercise and members’ glucose levels,” Hale said. “And because we know that people are affected differently by the same foods and activities, guidance and insights will be personalized.”
In June, Ōura said it had sold more than 2.5 million rings and was valued at $2.55 billion. Neither company has said how many people use both an Oura ring and a Dexcom sensor. The partners aim to increase the shared user base through co-marketing.
Ōura expects annual sales to double to around $500 million in 2024.