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Ōura, the maker of health-tracking smart-rings popular with celebrities and business executives, has raised $200 million in new funding, doubling its valuation since 2022 to $5.2bn.

Founded in Finland in 2013, Ōura’s latest deal is one of the largest for a private European tech company outside the artificial intelligence sector, securing a disproportionate share of venture capital funding. this year.

Fidelity Management led Ōura’s latest round with US-based glucose monitoring group Dexcom, taking total capital raised to more than $550 million, according to the company.

Celebrity lovers of Ōura’s rings including Prince Harry, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston, IBM and Delta executives, as well as Silicon Valley founders such as Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, Salesforce’s Marc Benioff and Airbnb’s Joe Gebbia.

Its growing popularity has seen sales more than double this year to around $500mn, with total rings sold exceeding 2.5mn. Tom Hale, the chief executive of Ōura, said the company was profitable.

Ōura said the funds will allow it to expand its products into new categories, invest in AI and fuel international expansion, as well as possible acquisitions.

“We know Ōura has the potential to change lives at scale, and we’re excited to continue to lead the market in innovation while looking for opportunities that go beyond the ring,” said Hale.

Ōura started on Kickstarter, the crowdfunding site, in 2016.

Its rings, which cost upwards of $349 for the latest Ōura 4 model plus a $5.99-a-month subscription, track the wearer’s sleep, heart rate, body temperature and activity. A smartphone app turns this data into a personal “Readiness Score” and offers advice on how to improve it.

the wearable technology and fitness tracker market has long been dominated by smartwatches such as the Apple Watch. However, unit shipments of smartwatches are expected to decline by 3 percent this year, according to estimates from market research group IDC, while unit shipments of rings have grown by 88 percent, which making them the fastest growing type of wearable device along with smart. glasses like Ray-Bans that carry the Meta camera.

Big tech companies are starting to take notice of Ōura’s success, with Samsung launching its Galaxy Ring in July. IDC predictions Smart ring shipments will grow from 1.7 million this year to 3.1 million in 2028.

Health technology is a bright spot for European startups this year, attracting $7.9bn in venture capital in the first three quarters of 2024, according to Dealroom.