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Smart Ring Maker Oura, Backers Seek $2.2B in US IPO

24 points · 11 comments · elo2000

  1. tristanj · · focus · HN ↗
    I believe OURA is living on borrowed time and only exists because Apple hasn't yet entered the smart ring market. It's a repeat of the Fitbit situation. Before the Apple Watch launched in 2015, Fitbit had 30% of the wearables market. Then the Apple came in, and Fitbit started bleeding users: high end ones to the Apple Watch, and low end ones to cheap Chinese competition. Fitbit eventually collapsed and got sold in a fire sale to Google.

    Apple is already rumored to be working on their own smart ring. Samsung is already in the market. This is one reason why Oura is in a rush to IPO, they need liquidity for early investors + cash to compete before Apple comes in and takes a huge slice of their market.

    1. VCFundedGenYer · · focus · HN ↗
      It's more or less the same precarious position Pebble had in the very early 2010s. When Apple Watch came out, they were wiped out.
    2. harshalizee · · focus · HN ↗
      Also, RIP to the Tile company. I haven't seen a company fade away that fast when Apple came out with Tag
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