Glucose-monitoring specialist Dexcom announced it has made a $75 million strategic investment in health-tracking ring maker Oura and established a strategic partnership to enable two-way data flow between Dexcom's continuous glucose monitor (CGM) and the Oura Ring.

Dexcom will contribute $75 million to Oura's Series D funding round, which will bring Oura's valuation to more than $5 billion.

Through the partnership, users of both Oura and Dexcom's products will have access to glucose data from Dexcom glucose biosensors and sleep, heart health, stress, vital-sign and activity data from the Oura Ring available on Dexcom's app and Oura's app. 

The companies say the data will allow users to track their glucose levels and understand how their behavior and biology affect their metabolic health. The partners will also co-market and sell each other's products. 

The integration is projected to launch in the first half of 2025. 

"Ninety-seven percent of Oura Members have expressed interest in understanding how the food they eat impacts their health, " Tom Hale, Oura CEO, said in a statement. 

"This partnership with Dexcom will enable us to empower our members to make informed decisions and adjust behaviors to positively impact their biometrics and long-term health. Working together, Oura and Dexcom will help members decide what and when to eat by surfacing correlations between activities like sleep and exercise and members’ glucose levels. And because we know that people are affected differently by the same foods and activities, guidance and insights will be personalized."

THE LARGER TREND

Oura scored $100 million in a Series C round in 2021. A year later, the company announced it had reached a valuation of $2.55 billion.

In October, the company announced its third acquisition in two years, data company Sparta Science, a platform that collects and analyzes health and performance information.

A month before, Oura announced it had agreed to acquire Veri, which offers personalized metabolic health programs. Last year, it acquired digital identification startup Proxy through an all-equity deal. Proxy created its digital-identity technology with the intention of replacing keys, cards, badges, apps and passwords.

In May, the company announced it added two heart-health-monitoring features to its Oura Ring: Cardiovascular Age (CVA) and Cardio Capacity.

The CVA feature uses data from the device to estimate a user's cardiovascular age relative to their actual age.

Cardio Capacity tool offers insights into a user's overall cardiovascular health centered around the estimation of VO2Max, a key indicator of aerobic endurance that measures the level of oxygen an individual can use in strenuous exercise.

In June, Dexcom announced it expanded its diabetes-management capabilities by offering direct connectivity to the Apple Watch for its G7 continuous glucose monitoring system via a dedicated Bluetooth connection. 

The glucose monitoring company secured FDA clearance in March for its over-the-counter CGM tool, Stelo. The device is available without the need for a prescription. The wearable biosensor boasts a battery life of up to two weeks and adheres to the back of the upper arm.

Last year, Dexcom announced a partnership with digital chronic-condition-management platform DarioHealth to allow Dario's digital tools for metabolic health to include data from Dexcom CGMs.