Oura acquires Proxy, bringing digital ID applications to biometric smart ring

Smart ring manufacturer Oura has announced the acquisition of Proxy, a digital identity signal platform, for an undisclosed amount of equity. By acquiring Proxy’s identification technology and smart ring patent portfolio, Oura intends further to solidify its position in the consumer wearables market with more applications.

Proxy‘s digital identity signal technology is designed to replace keys, cards, and passwords for improved data privacy. The company also developed biometrically-linked technology for wearables. After the acquisition, Proxy’s team will become Oura’s full-time employees.

“Oura was founded on a culture of innovation and has put great emphasis on building broad protection for our intellectual property,” comments the company’s CEO, Tom Hale, who joined Oura a year ago.

“This deal expands Oura’s leadership in health wearables and signals our ambitions to integrate digital identity technology with our existing hardware and software offerings.”

Hale states that this choice will expand the number of potential customers for Oura, creating opportunities in areas such as payments, logical and physical access control, and identity authentication, secured with Oura’s heartbeat biometrics.

“With the acquisition of Proxy, we have the most comprehensive portfolio in the smart ring space,” he adds.

The acquisition comes after a prolific couple of years for Oura, which has partnered with several research institutions, including the University of California San Diego and the University of California San Francisco.

“As the healthcare landscape continues to evolve with the development of new technologies, encryption and digital identity will become pivotal to enabling data privacy across industries for a frictionless security experience,” explains Oura COO Michael Chapp.

“Continuous health data collected through wearable technology is the key to enabling personalized, precision care that will usher in a new era for the healthcare industry. Oura is a mission-driven company and a bold innovator, and we’re excited about the opportunities this acquisition will help to unlock.”

The firm has also recently appointed Dorothy Kilroy as its first-ever chief commercial officer, further strengthening its leadership team to capitalize on the rising market opportunities in the biometric authentication wearables sector.

Article Topics

acquisitions  |  continuous authentication  |  digital ID  |  heartbeat biometrics  |  Oura  |  Proxy  |  wearables