ŌURA - Women’s Health Developments

health tech
Written By Chelse-Amoy Steele

Introduction

Until recently, "women's health" was treated as a side note, limited in large part to fertility initiatives and missing the broader scope of complex hormonal experiences that shape the lives of people who are assigned female at birth. Recent strides at ÖURA are changing this!

OURA's Cycle Insights Report, perimenopause symptom tagging, and physiologically-adaptive cycle predictions make them stand out as one of the key product leaders who are propelling us into a new era! In this era, data, lived experience, and thoughtful innovation come together create tools that support the full arc of hormonal health.

I'm taking an in-depth look at the gaps in the women's health space and am articulating ways I believe OURA and other companies like it can support hormonal health across every life stage.

In this PRD, I take an in-depth look at the gaps in the women's health space and offer ideas for how OURA, and companies like it, can better support hormonal health across every life stage.

Take a look, and let me know where you think we should go next.

Problem Space

In this area of Femtech, ŌURA stands in a unique position to approach the conversation differently. Within the health tech space, consumers and founders alike are experiencing frustration with the industries approach to women’s health*. The scope of solutions, which either directly or indirectly focuses on fertility, has left many users feeling isolated and has left big user concerns, like support for conditions that affect people assigned female at birth (AFAB) uniquely, unaddressed in the product space.

This solution gap has real consequences. According to the McKinsey Health Institute and World Economic Forum, the lack of comprehensive health solutions for AFAB people has led to a 25% increase in the time that this population spends in deteriorated health, compared with their counterparts. Embracing this opportunity to create resources that address areas of unmet need stands to improve the lives of billions of people assigned female at birth who, at some point, will undergo health changes like menopause and its associated symptoms or may even experience reproductive health concerns such as PCOS or endometriosis.

This path is not without its challenges. Our lack of sex-based medical understanding which has siloed our understanding of all physiology as “male physiology” is an ongoing challenge we must grapple with. Alongside this, we are contending with insufficient data on diagnostics and successful interventions for people assigned female at birth. These inadequacies, coupled with the disproportionately low funding allocated for women’s health research has real product implications.

What’s optimistic here is that in this new era, companies like ŌURA have the capacity to change the tide! ŌURA is pushing to develop an approach to women’s health that encompasses a broad spectrum of issues, leveraging its advanced biometric tracking capabilities to move the needle on product development. In 2023, ŌURA partnered with UCSF to better understand irregular menstrual cycles and PCOS, and in the fall of 2024, OURA released its first Perimenopause Report which deshrouded the stigma and lack of information around managing many of the changes experienced during this time of life. The company also started a “cycle insights feature” which allowed more personalized tracking for cycles, shifting out of a misinformed assumption that every person who menstruates has a 28 day cycle. These product investments demonstrate something very clear: ŌURA has a strong commitment to empower people with uteri to better understand their reproductive health and its relationship to overall well being.

As a result these investments, ŌURA expanded their data models and made cycle predictions more adaptive. The organization shifted away from calendar logic and into leveraging physiological signals like body temperature, HRV, and resting heart rate to suggest when a cycle may begin. They made strides to translate the findings of their perimenopausal report, like the correlation between factors like cardiovascular risk, physical and mental health, and sleep and the stages of menopause, into product innovations such as perimenopause-related symptom tagging. They’ve even built in contextual nudges that flag if there are changes happening that may signal perimenopause, and bolster these nudges with educational context to help users understand what may be happening in an actionable and non-alarmist way. Building on this, they introduced a Cycle Insights Report designed to help users have more structured, data-backed conversations with their health providers, so they can confidently collaborate on a care plan to manage emerging symptoms.


So, the question is, given these recent investments, where would ŌURA go now?

The Voice of the Customer

According to FemTech Analytics, only 5-7% of Femtech startups focus on menopause and even fewer address long term hormonal health, including transitions like puberty, postpartum, and postmenopause. This leaves a significant gap for product-market fit just in the area of menopause alone, with the market projected to reach 1.2Billion and a value of 600 Billion by 2030. Across the areas of puberty, postpartum, and post menopause, here are a few problem areas with high business value:

  • Personalized, phase-specific wellness guidance (how to train, eat, and rest during different hormonal phases)

  • Support for managing hormonal conditions like PMDD, PCOS, and thyroid disorders

  • Continued tracking and insights in the post menopausal periods

Investing in areas such as these may allow for ŌURA to achieve greater uniqueness and differentiation while producing a strong product-market fit in a space that often scopes engagement to fertility.


Real customers are saying…

There isn’t as much public outcry for a need for biowearables to have hormonal-related features that are for puberty. And in addition, OURA has been making significant strides for perimenopause so for now, I’m going to discuss postpartum, menopause, postmenopause, and hormonally driven reproductive disorders as four areas of possible expansion for OURA.


(zoom out to view the full table)


Condition Target Audience Scale of Impact Current Resources User Needs
Postpartum Recent pregnant people (within 12 months post-partum) $2.53B in 2023, projected to reach $4.47B by 2032. Affects an estimated 140M people WW each year. Limited offerings. The focus is primarily on breastfeeding accessories and general wellness trackers. (1) Monitoring of sleep patterns and fatigue
(2) Tracking of hormonal fluctuations and mood changes
(3) Support for lactation and nutrition management
(4) Recovery tracking post-delivery
Menopause People assigned female at birth undergoing menopausal transition $17.79B in 2024, expected to reach $24.35B by 2030 Embr Wave 2: a thermal wristband which provides localized cooling/warming sensations to manage hot flashes and night sweats (1) Tracking of vasomotor symptoms (like hot flashes)
(2) Personalized insights for symptom management
(3) Sleep quality monitoring
(4) Mood and cognitive function assessment
Postmenopause People assigned female at birth who have completed menopause Part of the $600B femtech opportunity. By 2030, 1.2B people will be menopausal or postmenopausal. OsteoBoost is an FDA wearable device that combats bone density loss by providing mechanical stimulation. (1) Cardiovascular and bone health monitoring
(2) Long-term hormonal balance tracking
(3) Support for aging-related health concerns
(4) Personalized wellness recommendations
Hormonal disorders – PMDD Individuals diagnosed with PMDD Impacts 3–8% of AFAB people in reproductive age. Estimated 31M people WW. Projected to reach $2.96B by 2035. The “Me v PMDD” Symptom Tracker allows users to track daily symptoms and treatment related to their menstrual cycle. (1) Cycle-linked symptom tracking
(2) Mood + biometrics correlation tracking and integration
(3) Predictive alerts for high-symptom windows based on past cycles
(4) Mental health support tools during symptom peaks
(5) Exportable health reports to support with diagnosis and treatment
Hormonal disorders – PCOS Individuals diagnosed with PCOS 116M people affected WW. Valued at $4.11B in 2031. CAGR of 5.1% Known solutions include the March Health app, which offers guidance “from menstruation to menopause” as well as apps like Flo to help log symptoms. (1) Reflect missed or anovulatory cycles without error/alert messaging
(2) Metabolic monitoring to track and interpret signs of insulin resistance
(3) Nutrition and movement recommendations tailored to PCOS-related fatigue
(4) Custom health goal setting to target cycle regularity, improved sleep, and stabilized mood
Hormonal disorders – thyroid Individuals diagnosed with thyroid disorders 20M people impacted in the U.S. Projected to reach $2.84B by 2030. CAGR of 3.6% Most biowearables can be used to indirectly track relevant metrics. Not diagnostic tools, but can support continuous monitoring and patient reporting. (1) Structured daily logs for fatigue, brain fog, and stamina levels
(2) Testing for correlation between indicators of thyroid imbalance and medication changes
(3) Medication reminders (including dietary) and medication response tracking
(4) Symptom visualizations over time

**this is not an exhaustive list

As we look across the hormonal health landscape, it’s clear that each of these groups—people navigating PMDD, PCOS, thyroid disorders, postpartum changes, and menopause—represent sizable markets with distinct and urgent needs. However, given ŌURA’s existing investments and product capabilities, the most strategic next step is to deepen their focus on menopause and the transition into postmenopause as the starting point for a more comprehensive approach to hormonal care.

From a market opportunity perspective, the numbers are compelling: menopause and postmenopause will impact an estimated 1.2 billion people by 2030, and the global menopause market is projected to reach $24.35 billion within that same timeframe.

From a user need perspective, this population has been chronically underserved in health tech. A significant majority of users report feeling unsupported or uninformed during the menopausal transition, signaling a clear demand for tools that provide clarity, validation, and insight.

From a competitive landscape perspective, ŌURA has the opportunity to lead. While a few early-stage companies are entering the space, there remains a noticeable gap in scalable, trusted wearable solutions designed specifically for menopause-related concerns.

From a product alignment perspective, ŌURA is already well positioned. The platform’s robust physiological tracking—across metrics like temperature, HRV, and resting heart rate—combined with its personalized insights and contextual nudges, makes it uniquely equipped to detect and support the changes that occur throughout and after menopause.

In short, building on the work already done in perimenopause and expanding into postmenopausal support offers OURA a high-impact, high-alignment path to meaningful innovation in hormonal health.

Problem Hypothesis

ŌURA users who are currently menopausal and are transitioning into post-menopause are searching for support with a few core issues.

  1. Personalized health insights for menopausal ⟶ post menopausal experiences

  2. Monitoring for those on hormone replacement therapy, aligned with treatment scheudles

  3. Suggestions to help manage post-menopausal risk factors and decreases in quality of health

My overall hypothesis: If we provide ŌURA users transitioning from menopause to post-menopause with personalized health insights, HRT-aligned monitoring, and targeted guidance for managing post-menopausal risk factors, then they will experience greater satisfaction with the product, improved ability to manage their health, and increased engagement with ŌURA’s platform during this critical life stage.

We can break this down across our three core issues

  1. Personalized Insights Hypothesis
    If ŌURA delivers personalized insights specific to the transition from menopause to post-menopause (e.g., sleep, temperature variability, cardiovascular shifts), then users will feel more supported and continue using the ring to track these less-visible changes.

  2. HRT Monitoring Hypothesis
    If ŌURA integrates optional HRT tracking and delivers insights timed to users’ treatment protocols, then users undergoing hormone therapy will be more likely to rely on ŌURA for daily feedback and long-term trend monitoring.

  3. Post-Menopausal Risk Management Hypothesis
    If ŌURA offers educational prompts and habit-based recommendations around managing post-menopausal risks (e.g., bone health, cardiovascular shifts, metabolic changes), then users will find greater value in the product for long-term health maintenance.

For the sake of simplicity, I will chose one of these hypotheses to iterate on.

Prioritizing a Problem Hypothesis

The opportunity, by the numbers

An AARP study conducted in 2021 found that 75% of menopausal and post-menopausal women felt unsupported in managing their health during this time. Building on this gap, a Gennev survey from 2020 found that 80% of women would try digital tools if they felt that those tools were truly relevant to their experience. In the United States alone, 6,000 people reach menopause every day. Those people will remain post-menopausal for the rest of their lives. This is a massive and growing segment of users who need tailored support.

Should we explore personalized health insights?

Pursuing the personalized health insights feature would allow us to tap nearly 20% of users who make up the AFAB portion of the population within the United States alone. This pursuit would align with existing data streams such as sleep, temperature, and HRV and wouldn’t require additional partnerships to build, just intelligent insight layering. Pursuing this path may also stand to increase the average lifecycle of an ŌURA customer, inserting greater value for longer stages of development. Key here? Improvements in this area would have to evoke thoughtful UI/UX in order to avoid a patronizing tone and certain insights, such as metabolic changes, may require additional contextual data in order to be meaningful.

What about hormone replacement therapy monitoring?

Investing in this area would provide value to a highly engaged sub-group and could allow ŌURA to stand out as a competitor in the biowearables space, but of the 20% of AFAB users who are within our U.S. TAM, only 20-25% of those people would be using HRT according to the NIH. This feature may also require more complex health data integrations and some legal and clinical partnerships to fully vet it. There’s also an inherent higher risk in the case recommendations are inaccurate, which can happen for models where there is not a robust data set.

And how about post-menopausal risk factor guidance? Should we explore it?

Investing in this area would be of huge benefit for post-menopausal people who are concerned about long-term potential outcomes of post-menopause such as osteoporosis and heart disease. There’s also great mission-alignment here, but it would require ŌURA to establish in-house clinical expertise in this area (something which they may already be working towards) and the longer-term outcomes could be more difficult to tie to product value.

So because the reach and impact for our first area, personalized health insights for people transitioning from menopause to post-menopause is high and it appears to have a lower effort to build, I’ll prioritize this hypothesis as we move forward.

Next up: Testing the problem hypothesis

Chelse-Amoy Steele
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