Oura has agreed to acquire Counsel Health, a medical AI chatbot startup, for $625 million, the wearable company said alongside its quarterly earnings announcement. The deal is expected to close before the end of the year, after Oura added Counsel’s chatbot to its app earlier this year.
Counsel describes itself as an “AI-native primary care company.” Its app uses health information reported by users’ wearables to generate responses and insights, with the option to move into a conversation with one of Counsel’s in-house physicians. The chatbot can connect Oura users directly to a doctor and draw on their biometric data when answering medical questions.
Oura CEO Tom Hale told Bloomberg the acquisition is part of a plan to link wearables, clinical AI and access to doctors, using biometric insights to answer questions or monitor ongoing conditions. In its announcement, Oura said the combined effort would focus on preventative care, acute care for episodic health concerns, and specialty and chronic care, including reproductive and cardiometabolic health.
Counsel CEO Muthu Alagappan told Bloomberg the company plans to expand its on-demand physician network, which currently has “about 50 people.” Counsel’s 70 employees will join Oura, and Alagappan will become Oura’s chief clinical AI officer.
Counsel will also continue offering its medical AI platform beyond Oura’s user base through new and existing enterprise partners, Oura said. Those partners include health plans, health systems, consumer health organizations and employers.
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