❯ Oura postpones its IPO at the last minute as some investors balk at a ~$15 billion valuation

Called off the day before pricingSmart ring maker Oura postponed its Nasdaq IPO one day before its planned September 29 pricing, citing market uncertainty, though the company said demand was strong and its business had strengthened during the process. According to Bloomberg, some potential investors held off over a target valuation of about $15 billion and the poor post-listing performance of peers such as Fitbit.

Rings plus subscriptionsFinland’s Oura sells smart rings that track sleep, heart rate and temperature, and charges users a subscription for health-data analysis. It had planned to sell 50 million shares at $40 to $44 each to raise up to $2.2 billion; Eli Lilly and Dragoneer had indicated interest in buying up to $100 million and $300 million, respectively.

Hardware struggles to earn software multiplesInvestors doubt whether Oura can keep selling hardware under pressure from Apple, Samsung and Garmin while its subscriptions justify a near-software valuation. The delay disrupts the funding plans of the company and its existing shareholders and makes other IPO candidates more cautious; a guest on The Information’s show even discussed whether market uncertainty could affect Anthropic’s listing plans.

▪ SIGNALMarkets will pay up for an AI story, but for a ring that must win back its users’ subscriptions every year, they do the hardware math first.