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Oura, the smart ring maker, with offices in San Francisco and Finland, is reportedly planning to raise up $3 billion as soon as next month in a U.S. IPO that values the more than 900-person<\/a> company at north of $16 billion<\/a>, according to Bloomberg. The outlet adds that investors are expected to sell a major chunk of stock in the offering.<\/p>\n A $16 billion valuation would mark an enormous jump from the $10.9 billion valuation Oura was assigned last September, when it closed an $875 million Series E<\/a> round backed by Fidelity, ICONIQ, Whale Rock, and Atreides, joining earlier backers like Dexcom, The Chernin Group, Forerunner Ventures, Coatue, and Temasek.<\/p>\n The wearables space has gotten crowded fast. <\/p>\n Samsung launched its own ring, the Galaxy Ring, two years ago. But Oura\u2019s most direct rival may be the fitness band maker Whoop, which has undergone its own reinvention. Once a performance tool for elite athletes and young men, Whoop has spent the past year courting a much broader audience, layering in hormone tracking and blood-panel testing for perimenopause and thyroid health. The move drove its own valuation up to $10 billion<\/a> back in March. Oura has followed a similar path, evolving from its starting niche of biohacking CEOs into a more mainstream sleep-and-recovery brand.<\/p>\n Oura announced in May<\/a> that it had filed confidentially for an IPO.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n