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Ultrahuman Raises $70M with Qualcomm Backing to Develop Smart Rings as Computing Devices
Key points
- Ultrahuman raised $70 million in a funding round.
- Qualcomm Ventures participated in the investment.
- The company aims to make smart rings function as computing devices.
- New rings will use Qualcomm silicon; existing rings will get software updates.
Funding and Valuation
Ultrahuman, an Indian startup known for its smart rings, has successfully raised $70 million in a new funding round. This investment includes participation from Qualcomm’s venture arm, Qualcomm Ventures, as well as Labcorp, Alpha Wave, Blume Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, and Alteria Capital. The round comprises $65 million in primary equity and $5 million in debt.
This financing round values the Bengaluru-based company at $365 million, which represents a threefold increase from its $120 million valuation in 2023.
Shifting Smart Ring Functionality
Ultrahuman's strategic goal is to evolve smart rings beyond their current role as health and sleep trackers into more versatile computing devices. The company intends for its rings to run software directly on the device, reducing reliance on smartphones or cloud services. This expansion of functionality aims to support applications ranging from AI interactions to games.
Hardware and Software Development
To achieve its objectives, Ultrahuman is collaborating with Qualcomm to develop a new smart ring that will incorporate Qualcomm's silicon. While current rings use chips from Nordic Semiconductor, these will continue to be utilized alongside the new Qualcomm technology. The integration of Qualcomm's silicon is expected to provide increased computing power for on-device software and algorithms.
Before the release of the new Qualcomm-powered ring, Ultrahuman plans to roll out software updates to its existing Ring Air and Ring Pro models by the end of September. These updates will introduce features such as game controller capabilities, AI application interaction, and support for third-party developer applications.
Future Applications
The enhanced computing capabilities are expected to open up new use cases for smart rings beyond traditional health tracking. Ultrahuman envisions developers creating programs for the device, and the ring potentially functioning as a pointer, mouse, game controller, car key, or an interface for AI interactions. Qualcomm Ventures views Ultrahuman's efforts as contributing to a new generation of personal AI devices.
✨ This summary was generated by AI from the outlets' reporting listed below. It is not independently verified and may contain errors — check the original sources. How BrevFeed works →
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Reporting from
Ultrahuman, an Indian smart ring manufacturer, secured $70 million in funding, including investment from Qualcomm Ventures, to transform its smart rings from health trackers into computing devices capable of running software and supporting AI interactions. This funding round values the company at $365 million and will support the development of new rings utilizing Qualcomm silicon, alongside software updates for existing models to enable advanced functionalities.