ultrahumanAn Indian startup best known for making smart rings, has raised $70 million in a new funding round that includes backing from Qualcomm’s venture arm, as it looks beyond sleep and health tracking to build a ring that can run software on the device and eventually power everything from AI interactions to games.
The round values Bengaluru-based Ultrahuman at $365 million, about three times its $120 million valuation in 2023, a person familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.
Qualcomm Ventures participated in the financing alongside US diagnostics giant Labcorp, Alpha Wave, Blume Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners and Alteria Capital. The round includes $65 million in primary equity and $5 million in debt, Ultrahuman founder and CEO Mohit Kumar said in an interview.
Ultrahuman is also working with Qualcomm on a new ring that will use the American chipmaker’s silicon, replacing the Nordic Semiconductor chip it currently uses, Kumar told TechCrunch. The additional computing power will allow more software and algorithms to run directly on the ring, reducing its dependence on a phone or the cloud, he said.
“All ring devices today are like trackers,” Kumar said. “You put the ring on, it measures your heart rate, your movement, your sleep.” Ultrahuman’s goal, he said, is to make the ring more like a computer, where programs and algorithms can be run on the device itself.
This could open up the ring to use cases beyond health and sleep tracking, something ultrahuman rings are known for.
Developers, Kumar said, could eventually write their own programs for the device, while Ultrahuman is exploring ways for the ring to function as a pointer or mouse, a game controller, a car key and an interface for interacting with AI.
“The future of AI is personal, environmental and always-on,” said Quinn Li, global head of Qualcomm Ventures, adding that Ultrahuman is building a new generation of “personal AI devices.”
While the Qualcomm-powered ring is planned to arrive later, Ultrahuman isn’t waiting for new hardware to start testing that idea. Kumar told TechCrunch that some of the new capabilities will spill over into the startup’s existing ones. air ring and Ring Pro (pictured above) via a software update in late September, which includes features that would allow the Ring to function as a game controller and interact with AI applications, as well as the ability to allow third-party developers to create new features.
The idea of Ultrahuman is to take advantage of the position of the ring on the user’s finger, Kumar said. Unlike a smartwatch, which he described as more like “a phone on the wrist,” a ring could act as a precise signaling and interaction device while also transmitting physiological context such as the wearer’s heart rate, temperature and movement.
“A game controller never reads your heart rate and temperature, but this one does,” Kumar said. He continued to imagine games that could respond not only to a player’s movements but also to signals such as their heart rate and body temperature, making the ring a controller and a source of physiological context.
The business behind the bet
Meanwhile, Ultrahuman’s existing business is growing even as the startup looks to expand what its rings can do. The startup, Kumar said, currently has an annual revenue rate of $140 million, up about 45% from a year ago, and expects that rate to reach $200 million by January 2027. It has sold about 800,000 rings to date, up from about 700,000 in February, Kumar said. About 12% of its users also pay for PowerPlugs, Ultrahuman’s subscription-based software features.
Co-founded by Kumar and Vatsal Singhal in 2019, Ultrahuman initially debuted its continuous glucose monitors to help people track their metabolic health. However, the startup later moved into smart rings, which have since become the mainstay of its business. It also introduced blood testing and environmental sensors to build a broader health platform.
The United States remains Ultrahuman’s largest market, although the startup had to stop selling its Ring Air here for much of last year following a patent dispute with rival Oura. ultrahuman returned to the market with his Redesigned Ring Pro this year. Demand for the new device, Kumar said, is currently 18 to 20 times greater than the startup’s available supply in the US.
Kumar told TechCrunch that the startup expects to return to its previous US sales volumes next quarter and aims to triple those volumes over the next four quarters as supply increases. The United States has accounted for about 45% of Ultrahuman’s revenue this quarter, while India contributes about 11%, Kumar said.
Ultrahuman plans to use some of the new capital to deepen its presence in markets such as India and the United Arab Emirates, where it has discovered that brick-and-mortar stores and other offline touchpoints can help drive sales. However, that expansion, along with spending on clinical research and product development, has come at a cost. Ultrahuman, Kumar said, may not be profitable this year after investing more in physical locations, its brand and clinical studies.
Unlike its rival Oura, which is It is reportedly considering an initial public offering in September.Ultrahuman is still a little while away from going public. Kumar told TechCrunch that the startup wants to demonstrate around eight quarters of profitability before going public, a track record he expects could take eight to 10 quarters to establish. However, it considers 2028 to be the first window for an IPO.
Meanwhile, Ultrahuman is also looking to work more closely with Labcorp, as it tries to deepen its rings in health and diagnostics. The companies, Kumar said, are exploring whether the blood flow signals captured by the ring, when combined with blood test data, could help identify health risks in areas including cardiovascular health, fertility and aging.
“By combining wearable longitudinal data with deeper biological signals, Ultrahuman is creating new opportunities in personalized health,” said Megann Vaughn Watters, vice president and head of Labcorp Venture Fund and Strategic Alliances.
The partnership could eventually lead to integrations with Ultrahuman products, Kumar said, although he declined to share details and added that the startup hopes to have more to announce soon.
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