Key Takeaways
- The Counsel Deal: Oura agreed on November 10, 2026, to buy Counsel Health for $625 million in cash and expects the deal to close by year-end. Counsel brings AI health guidance and access to board-certified doctors into your Oura app.
- Cost and Eligibility: Counsel in Oura is available in 43 US states and requires a Gen3 or newer ring and active membership. After the free 30-day AI trial, you pay $159 a year for AI and doctor access, plus $69.99 a year or $5.99 a month for Oura.
- Before You Opt In: Open Connect to Care in the Oura app and review what Counsel Health can see before sharing your ring data. If you’re waiting for the full rollout, watch for Oura to confirm the deal has closed and announce any changes to pricing or state coverage.
Your Oura Ring can tell you how you slept, and now the company behind it wants to make it easier to talk to a doctor from the same app. The Oura Counsel Health deal, signed on November 10, 2026, would see Oura buy the primary care startup for $625 million in cash. The companies expect the purchase to close by the end of 2026.
You see, eligible ring owners can already try Counsel through Oura Labs. The optional add-on gives you 30 days to try the AI guidance for free, then costs $159 a year for continued AI access and visits with a doctor. If you choose to share your Oura data, the doctor can use your ring readings during the conversation. To see where Oura wants to take your membership, start with what Counsel built before it ever appeared in your app.
| Buyer | Oura |
| Company being acquired | Counsel Health |
| Purchase price | $625 million in cash, with possible price adjustments |
| Announced | November 10, 2026 |
| Expected close | By the end of 2026, pending customary closing conditions |
| Counsel founder | Dr. Muthu Alagappan, set to become Oura’s chief clinical AI officer |
| Counsel funding | About $36 million across an $11 million seed round and a $25 million Series A |
| Staff joining Oura | About 70, according to reports |
| Counsel price in the Oura app | 30 days of free AI guidance, then $159 a year for AI and doctor access |
| Oura membership | $5.99 a month or $69.99 a year |
| Oura’s latest reported quarter | $533 million in preliminary, unaudited revenue, up 153% from a year earlier |
| Oura members | More than 6 million |
Who Counsel Health Is and Why Oura Wanted It
When you see an unusual reading in your Oura app, you may still have questions about what it means or what to do next. Counsel gives you a place to ask those questions and brings a physician into the chat when you need one. That setup traces back to a founder who had worked in both AI and medicine. If you’re new to startup funding terms, here’s how a Series A round works.
The Doctor Behind the Startup
Dr. Muthu Alagappan started Counsel Health in late 2023 after working in AI and practicing medicine. He earned his bachelor’s and medical degrees at Stanford, worked as an attending physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and UCSF, and served as chief medical officer at Notable Health.
A $36 Million Startup With Big Backers
Counsel raised about $36 million across two rounds. At $625 million, Oura’s agreed cash price comes to roughly 17 times that amount.
- Seed round. A16z Bio + Health led the $11 million round, with backing from Floodgate, Asymmetric Capital Partners and Pear VC.
- Series A. A16z and GV co-led the $25 million round, with Floodgate, Asymmetric and Pear VC investing again.
How the AI and the Physicians Split the Work
When you start a chat, Counsel’s AI can ask about your symptoms, take your history and help work out how urgently you need care. One part of the system looks for signs of an emergency. Counsel calls the workspace its physicians use the Clinician Cockpit.
A board-certified doctor can step into your chat within minutes. That physician can make a diagnosis, prescribe medication, order lab work or refer you when appropriate.
The Oura Counsel Health Deal Terms and Timeline
The two companies had already put Counsel in the ring app by the time Oura announced the purchase. Oura says the partnership began in May 2026, and the integration was announced publicly in June. Those two dates help explain how Counsel went from an in-app trial to a planned acquisition in a matter of months.
| Late 2023 | Alagappan started Counsel Health. |
| October 2024 | Counsel closed its $11 million seed round. |
| October 2025 | Counsel announced a $25 million Series A. |
| May and June 2026 | The partnership began in May, according to Oura. The companies announced the app integration in June. |
| September 17, 2026 | Oura announced its work with Counsel on the Medicare ACCESS program. |
| September 29, 2026 | Oura postponed its planned IPO. |
| October 13, 2026 | Oura Labs testers began a 30-day free period under the paid plan rollout. |
| November 10, 2026 | Oura and Counsel announced the acquisition agreement. |
| End of 2026 | The companies expect the deal to close if the customary conditions are met. |
| Early 2027 | Counsel expects to begin delivering chronic care through Medicare ACCESS. |
The $625 million cash price can change through purchase price adjustments. Alagappan is set to become Oura’s chief clinical AI officer, and reports put the number of Counsel employees joining Oura at about 70. Counsel says it will keep serving health plans, health systems and employers, including organizations that serve people without an Oura Ring.
What Changes Inside Your Oura App
If you qualify for Counsel, you can try it through Oura Labs today. You can open a chat whenever you have a question or start from a prompt tied to something you saw in the app. Where you tap depends on what brought you there.
How You Reach a Counsel Doctor Today
- Open the Oura app, tap the + icon and select Connect to Care to start directly.
- If you’re already chatting with Oura Advisor, you can open Counsel from there. A Health Radar alert or a prompt in Health Panels or Blood Pressure Signals can also take you to the service.
- Follow the setup and consent prompts, then start a chat with Counsel’s AI. With paid access, a board-certified Counsel physician can join the chat when needed.
What Oura Says Comes After Closing
Oura says the full Counsel experience will come to the app after the deal closes. The companies plan to cover preventive care and acute concerns, along with specialty and chronic care in areas such as reproductive health, aging and cardiometabolic health. Oura describes the longer-term goal as having a doctor you can reach around the clock.
Who Is Left Out for Now
To use Counsel in Oura, you need an active membership, a Gen3 or newer ring and the Oura app on iOS or Android. The service is available in English across 43 US states.
Oura lists Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Washington, West Virginia and Washington, DC, as excluded. Oura says telemedicine rules in those jurisdictions require a video call to establish a relationship with a provider, and Counsel in the Oura app currently uses chat.
What You Will Pay on Top of Your Membership
Your ring membership and Counsel access are billed separately. The 30-day Counsel trial covers AI guidance, and the $159 annual plan adds access to physicians. Here’s what each charge pays for and where you could see extra costs.
| Oura membership | $5.99 a month or $69.99 a year for the ring’s membership features. |
| Counsel in the Oura app | 30 days of free AI guidance, then $159 a year for unlimited AI and doctor access. The plan renews automatically each year. |
| Doctor visits | Counsel Medical Group receives $76.50 from your $159 yearly subscription to cover visits with its doctors. |
| HSA, FSA and insurance | You can use HSA or FSA funds for the Counsel subscription. Health insurance does not cover the subscription fee. |
| Other care costs | Physician visits have no copay. Treatment, prescriptions and lab work may cost extra. |
| Standalone Counsel | Counsel offers free AI access and charges $29 to bring a doctor into a conversation. A $199 annual plan for unlimited physician access was reported in October 2025. |
If you already pay annually for Counsel through Oura Labs, you keep your existing rate unless you’re notified of a change. Oura has yet to announce any change to the $159 price after the deal closes.
How Your Ring Data Moves Between Oura and Counsel
When you bring a doctor into a Counsel chat, you can give them permission to see your Oura data and past conversations. That lets you talk about what your ring picked up over time alongside what you’re feeling today. Before you opt in, it helps to know how much information goes with you. Health data breaches do happen, as the Oracle Health data breach showed.
What Gets Shared When You Opt in
Oura gives you one choice for the full set of data, so you can’t select individual categories to share. Here’s what your consent can give Counsel access to.
- Ring readings. Sleep, heart rate, blood oxygen, activity, readiness, stress, recovery and metabolic data.
- Health insights. Health Radar results and insights about your cycle, pregnancy or menopause.
- App context. Your Health Panels, Health Profile, tags and relevant Oura Advisor conversation.
- Personal details. Your name, email address, birth date, state and sex assigned at birth.
You can also choose to send information back to Oura after a visit. That can include a diagnosis, treatment or consultation notes, and a summary of your chat.
How Counsel Handles Your Medical Records
Counsel says it complies with HIPAA and holds SOC 2 certification. Oura and Counsel each handle the data they hold under their own privacy policy, and both say they’ll never sell your data.
If you delete your data from Oura, Counsel’s copy stays with Counsel. The care provider has to keep medical records as required by law.
How to Stop Sharing
In the Oura app, tap the gear icon, open Data sharing, select Counsel Health and tap Stop sharing. If you want to end your paid subscription too, you’ll need to cancel it separately.
Oura’s Bigger Plan Beyond the Ring
You can already use your ring to see how your sleep and recovery change over time. With Counsel, Oura wants you to be able to take those readings into a conversation with a physician. The deal fits with what Oura has been buying and the kinds of care it plans to offer.
- Financial results. Oura reported preliminary, unaudited revenue of $533 million for the quarter ended September 30, up 153% from a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA was $87 million, or 16% of revenue, and preliminary fiscal 2026 revenue came to about $1.75 billion, up 92%.
- Membership and valuation. Oura now has more than 6 million members. Its October 2025 funding round valued the company at $11 billion.
- IPO delay. Oura postponed its IPO on September 29. The plan called for 50 million shares at $40 to $44 each, with OURA as the Nasdaq ticker.
- Earlier acquisitions. Oura bought Veri in 2024 and Galen AI in April 2026. It also acquired Sparta Science and Doublepoint.
You’ll see another part of the plan in Medicare’s ACCESS program. Counsel expects to begin providing chronic care through the program in early 2027, with enrollment details to come.
How Whoop, Samsung and Ultrahuman Stack Up
If you’re comparing wearables, check what kind of help each service offers after you see a reading or get a lab result. Whoop has announced clinician visits, Ultrahuman can explain blood reports with AI, and Google plans to bring Oura data into its own service. Here’s how those offerings compare. For a head-to-head look at the hardware, see our Oura Ring 5 vs Galaxy Ring comparison, and catch up on Oura’s lawsuit over the Ultrahuman Ring Pro.
| Oura Ring | Eligible US members can add Counsel’s AI chat and physician access for $159 a year after a 30-day AI trial. |
| Whoop | Whoop announced paid, on-demand clinician video visits for US users, with a planned summer 2026 launch and access to health records through HealthEx. Whoop plans cost $199 to $359 a year. |
| Samsung Galaxy Ring | A competing smart ring to consider if you’re comparing wearables. |
| Ultrahuman | Vision Cloud uses AI to explain blood reports you upload for free. Blood Vision Essentials costs $99, and the annual plan costs $499. |
| Google Health and Fitbit | Google Health Premium costs $9.99 a month and includes a Gemini-based health coach. Google has announced plans to support Oura data. |
| RingConn | Another smart ring competing with Oura. |
What to Watch Before the Deal Closes
If you already wear an Oura Ring, your next decision is whether you want to try Counsel in the app. You can make that choice using the eligibility, price and data-sharing terms available today. If you’re waiting to see what the purchase brings, keep an eye on these announcements.
- Closing and pricing. Look for confirmation that the deal has closed and whether Oura will keep Counsel as a $159 add-on or include it in membership.
- Availability. Watch for video visits, access in the seven excluded states and DC, and any plans to offer Counsel outside the US.
- Medicare and standalone access. Look for ACCESS enrollment details in 2027 and any changes for people who use Counsel directly.
- IPO and regulation. Watch for a renewed Oura IPO filing and any regulatory updates that affect how services like Counsel offer AI medical guidance.
If you’re curious and eligible, open Connect to Care and read what you’d share before starting the AI trial. If you’d rather wait, check the price and availability again once Oura confirms the deal has closed.
FAQs
Yes, you need an active Oura membership to use Counsel inside the Oura app. You also need a Gen3 or newer ring and must meet the service’s US eligibility rules.
Counsel costs $159 a year after the 30-day AI trial, on top of your Oura membership. The annual fee includes unlimited AI and doctor access, while treatment, prescriptions and lab work can cost extra.
No, Counsel in the Oura app is currently available only to eligible US members. It operates in 43 states and is available in English.
With your permission, a Counsel doctor can see readings such as sleep, heart rate, blood oxygen, activity, stress and recovery. Counsel can also access readiness and metabolic data, along with Health Radar results and reproductive health insights. You give permission for the full set of data at once.
No, deleting data in Oura leaves Counsel’s copy in place. Each company handles its own records, and Counsel has to retain medical records as required by law.
Oura has announced no membership price change tied to the deal. Membership costs $5.99 a month or $69.99 a year, and the optional Counsel subscription has its own annual fee.
