Smart rings are entering a new phase in the wearable device race, after Qualcomm Ventures, the investment arm of Qualcomm, participated in a $70 million funding round, along with other companies, for the Indian company UltraHuman, in a move that reflects a growing interest in transforming the ring from a device that monitors sleep and heart rate into a small computing platform capable of running software and interacting with artificial intelligence.
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The company is betting on the ring's ability to combine digital interaction with body data such as heart rate, temperature, and movement.
A gamble that goes beyond monitoring health
According to a report by the American technology website "TechCrunch," the value of "UltraHuman" reached approximately $365 million after the funding round.
Founded in 2019 in Bengaluru, UltraHuman initially focused on metabolic health monitoring before shifting its focus to smart rings. Today, the company offers devices that collect various data related to sleep, activity, movement, and body composition indicators, along with health-related services and software.
But the new funding points to a different direction, as UltraHuman plans to collaborate with Qualcomm to develop a new ring that uses the latter's chip technologies, with the aim of providing greater computing power that allows more software and algorithms to run directly on the ring, instead of relying entirely on a smartphone or cloud computing.
UltraHuman founder and CEO Mohit Kumar told that current rings primarily function as tracking devices, while the company wants to move to a model where the ring is closer to a wearable computer that can run programs and algorithms on the device itself.
What can the ring do in the future?
According to the vision put forward by "Ultrahuman," the uses of the ring may expand far beyond measuring health indicators. The company is exploring the possibility of using it as a pointer or mouse, a game controller, a car key, and a means of interacting with artificial intelligence applications.
One of the differences from smartwatches lies in the ring's position on the finger. The company believes this position makes it suitable for precise interaction with devices, while also allowing it to collect physiological data such as heart rate, temperature, and movement.
According to Kumar, in the future this data could be integrated with digital interaction to develop applications that respond to the user's physical condition, and not just to their traditional commands.
UltraHuman isn't waiting for the next generation of hardware to test this idea; the company has stated that it intends to make some new capabilities available to the Ring Air and Ring Pro models through software updates, including gaming and AI-related functions, and to allow third-party developers to build new features.
Why is Qualcomm interested in rings?
This investment gives an indication that Qualcomm sees small wearable devices as an opportunity beyond the traditional smartwatch market, as Qualcomm Ventures' global president, Quinn Lee, said that the future of artificial intelligence will be personal, ambient, and always on, considering UltraHuman as part of a new generation of personal AI devices.
This is in line with a broader trend in the technology sector towards moving some artificial intelligence processes to the devices themselves. The more chips can process data locally, the more possible it becomes to perform some tasks without sending all the data to the cloud, which could improve response speed and reduce reliance on constant internet connectivity. However, the success of this model will still depend on companies' ability to strike a balance between device size, battery life, processing power, and sensor accuracy.
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