NOT SO FAST: Oura flirted with Wall Street, but isn’t ready to put a ring on it.
The smart ring-maker said it was postponing its initial public offering on the Nasdaq exchange “due to uncertainty in the IPO market.”
Oura underscored the continuing strength of its business, saying that customer response to its latest offering has been “exceptionally strong” and helped push the number of its paid members up to 5.7 million. Revenues are expected to grow by 90 percent this year.
“Our mission is to empower people to live healthier [and] longer, and an IPO is just one step in our journey,” said Tom Hale, chief executive officer of Oura, in a statement. “We aim to deliver an extraordinary IPO for our employees and investors and we have the luxury of choosing our moment. In the meantime, we will execute against the opportunities ahead.”
The company and its early investors planned to sell a total of 50 million shares at $40 to $44 a piece — raising a total of $2.1 billion at the midpoint and valuing the business at about $15 billion on a fully diluted basis.
Founded in Finland, but now based in San Francisco, Oura is one of the very few start-ups in the world of wearable technology, where it’s mostly giants like Apple with its Apple Watch, that have been able to succeed.
Oura’s mission is to “give the body a voice,” tracking sleep, activity, stress, heart health and much more through 50 metrics and predictive insights.
But the question seems to be the health of the market, where stocks are near highs, but investors are still chewing over where the economy is headed.
Consumer spending has been strong, but inflation is up, the war with Iran has raised gas prices, the control of Congress is up for grabs in the midterm elections and AI seems intent on consuming nearly everybody’s bandwidth.
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