Closing the loop: Ultrahuman's vision for the future of health
PULSE sits down with founder Mohit Kumar to discuss building a health ecosystem for the body's every need
For many, the wearable tech conversation starts and ends with smartwatches and fitness trackers. But beneath the surface, as we highlight regularly here on PULSE, a more ambitious vision is taking shape.
So, while the headlines can often focus on the fierce competition in the smart ring market for a brand like Ultrahuman, its founder, Mohit Kumar, is thinking far beyond a single form factor.
In this exclusive sit-down, he sketches out a future where our bodies and technology are seamlessly integrated, constantly optimizing for peak performance and longevity.
This isn't just about tracking steps or sleep—and, unlike we’ve become so accustomed to hearing over the last couple of years, it isn’t just about harnessing AI more effectively, either. Instead, Kumar is focused on building closed-loop systems where gold-standard data informs real-time interventions.
A vision of integration
Ultrahuman's journey to this vision began almost five years ago, driven by a single fundamental insight.
"Data about the human body is available in silos. There are all these devices on the wrist and body, and there are blood tests that are available. But these aren’t customized for longevity, and they’re not integrated, while the human body is obviously very integrated,” Kumar tells PULSE.
Kumar explains the brand’s eagerness to avoid delivering single-focus devices, preferring to widen the net and work toward becoming a “health performance company”.
"If we were to say, 'look, we are a sleep tracker company,' then you're limited by the form factor and the sleep tracking, and it’s hard to go beyond that. If you say that you're a workout tracker or blood testing company, the same limitation exists.
“But if you integrate all of these things, you become a health performance company. And while that turns out to be more complex for us, it also often turns out to be more impactful for the user.”
This philosophy has guided Ultrahuman's diverse product launches, from a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) to the Ultrahuman Ring Air and, more recently, Ultrahuman Home (a health device that tracks environmental factors like air quality, temperature, humidity, light, and noise) and Blood Vision (its platform for interpreting external blood test data).
"It’s probably the most comprehensive stack in this category, but we believe there's so much more to do—and that there are so many new markers to build.”
The underdog's edge
While some might frame Ultrahuman as an underdog, particularly against market leaders like Oura in the smart ring space, Kumar sees their current position—acknowledging the brand’s recent high-profile patent infringement spat with Oura—as an advantage.
