The wearables maker is buying its existing AI care partner, expanding from preventative health into acute and chronic care.
TechCrunch reports that Oura has agreed to acquire Counsel Health, an AI-powered care platform, for $625 million. Counsel's service was already integrated into the Oura app as of June, and the companies now plan to expand that partnership across preventative, acute, and specialty or chronic care. Counsel's CEO, Muthu Alagappan, will become Oura's chief clinical AI officer, and the deal is expected to close before the end of 2027. The acquisition follows Oura's decision to indefinitely postpone its up to $2.2 billion IPO, which it attributed to uncertainty in the IPO market.
Why it matters: consumer health platforms are moving past passive tracking into AI-driven clinical decision making, folding diagnosis and care recommendations directly into everyday products. For enterprises building on health data, that raises the bar on model governance, clinical validation, and data security around AI systems that now sit closer to real care decisions.