Smart ring maker Ultrahuman to roll out biological-age model across UAE

Ultrahuman, a Bengaluru-based health tech startup known for its smart rings, has teamed up with Abu Dhabi health authorities to develop a biological-age model that will eventually be accessible to people across the United Arab Emirates. On Monday, Ultrahuman announced a two-year memorandum of understanding with the Abu Dhabi Public Health Center (ADPHC) to create and validate the model, which will integrate clinical biomarkers with data from wearable devices.

This partnership aims to utilize these signals to estimate an individual's aging rate and identify factors that may be accelerating or decelerating the process, such as sleep, activity, cardiovascular health, and metabolism.

Ultrahuman views this collaboration as an opportunity to apply its algorithms to a larger population, moving beyond its current base of around 800,000 smart ring users. The startup, which has sold its rings globally, is designing the biological-age model to be wearable-agnostic, allowing data from various devices and medical tests to feed into the system. The model will be deployed through government digital-health platforms, including TAMM and Sahatna, in the UAE.

The partnership marks Ultrahuman's latest effort to go beyond selling hardware and deploying its health algorithms. CEO Mohit Kumar sees the startup as a health-data company, with the smart ring serving as a means to collect information for algorithms focused on aging, longevity, and other health areas. While Ultrahuman already operates in the UAE, the broader rollout will involve exposing the model to a diverse range of age groups.

The biological-age model was developed using Ultrahuman's existing data, combining chronological ages with wearable signals and, for some users, blood-test markers.

Ultrahuman's typical users are between 25 and 43 years old, but this collaboration will provide exposure to a broader age range. The startup is not the only smart-ring maker working with Abu Dhabi on preventive health, as Oura has also partnered with the government on similar projects. However, Ultrahuman has not been made aware of other companies working on the health age model specifically.

The UAE is one of Ultrahuman's largest markets, accounting for around 4% to 5% of its overall revenue, with about 25% higher retention than in other markets.