Credit : The Verge's X
SAN FRANCISCO, November 10, 2026 — Smart ring maker Oura has agreed to acquire Counsel Health, an AI-native primary care company, for $625 million in cash, the two companies announced, as reported by The Verge.
The announcement came as Oura reported quarterly earnings. According to Counsel Health’s statement, the purchase price is subject to adjustments, and the deal is expected to close before the end of the calendar year, subject to customary closing conditions.
What Counsel Health does
Counsel Health describes itself as an AI-native primary care company. It pairs a medical AI chatbot with in-house physicians. Users can ask the AI for personalised medical advice and, when needed, the conversation can be escalated to a board-certified Counsel physician within minutes. Oura added Counsel’s chatbot to its app earlier this year, and the new deal builds on that existing partnership.
The Verge reported that the idea is to connect Oura’s wearable data, clinical AI and access to doctors, so that a medical consultation could start from a readout of a user’s Oura ring data. The companies say they will focus on three areas: preventive care, acute care for episodic health concerns, and specialty and chronic care, including reproductive and cardiometabolic health.
People and plans
According to Bloomberg, as cited by The Verge, Counsel Health’s physician network is made up of about 50 doctors and the company plans to expand it. Counsel’s 70 employees will join Oura, and Counsel chief executive Muthu Alagappan will become Oura’s chief clinical AI officer. Oura chief executive Tom Hale told Bloomberg that the acquisition is part of a plan to link wearables, clinical AI and access to doctors in order to answer health questions and monitor ongoing conditions.
Oura said Counsel will continue to serve enterprise partners beyond Oura’s own members, including health plans, health systems, consumer health organisations and employers. Counsel Health said its platform will not require partners to have or buy Oura rings, and that people who use the Counsel consumer app can continue to do so for now, with more details on the next chapter to be shared in the coming weeks.
Background
In its announcement, Oura said it had recorded growth of 153 per cent in the quarter and has more than six million members, which executive chairman David Shuman said gave the company confidence to invest $625 million in cash. TechCrunch noted that the deal comes a few weeks after Oura postponed an initial public offering of up to $2.2 billion indefinitely, citing uncertainty in the IPO market.
For wearable users, the move signals how far device makers want to go beyond tracking sleep and activity towards offering direct access to medical advice. Counsel Health, which raised a $25 million Series A a year ago led by Andreessen Horowitz and GV, according to TechCrunch, will now operate with the backing of a much larger company. Questions about how health data is handled in AI-driven consultations are likely to draw attention as the deal progresses, and neither company has yet said how the service will change for existing members.
The Verge published its report on November 10, 2026. LNA confirmed the price, the timing and the leadership details against Counsel Health’s own announcement, TechCrunch and Reuters.
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