Ultrahuman Signs Two-Year Pact with Abu Dhabi Public Health Center to Build Wearable-Agnostic Biological Age Model

Ultrahuman, the Bengaluru-founded maker of the Ultrahuman Ring, has signed a two-year memorandum of understanding with the Abu Dhabi Public Health Center (ADPHC) to develop and validate a biological-age model designed to work with data from any wearable device, not just its own.

The partnership gives Ultrahuman a government health authority as a research and distribution partner in one of its most valuable markets. Residents will be able to access the biological-age tool through the emirate’s TAMM government services platform and the Sahatna health app, according to details reported by TechCrunch.

Ultrahuman’s co-founder and chief executive Mohit Kumar said the United Arab Emirates is already among the company’s top ten markets, accounting for about 4% to 5% of revenue. The company has operated in the UAE for nearly five years, and customers there show roughly 25% higher retention than in its other markets. Ultrahuman describes the partnership as its first step towards deploying a health algorithm at national scale, with a phased rollout to follow two years of research and clinical validation.

What a biological-age model does

Biological age is an estimate of how old a person’s body appears to be, based on physiological markers, as opposed to their chronological age. Researchers use measures such as resting heart rate, heart-rate variability, sleep quality, physical activity and recovery, all of which modern wearables can track continuously, to estimate whether a person is ageing faster or slower than average.

The concept has become a centrepiece of the longevity movement and a powerful engagement tool for wearable companies. A single, intuitive number that rises or falls with lifestyle changes can motivate users far more effectively than a dashboard of raw metrics.

The scientific challenge is validation. Biological-age estimates vary widely depending on the data and methods used, and few have been rigorously tested against health outcomes in large populations. Partnering with a public health authority gives Ultrahuman a path to clinical credibility that consumer companies rarely achieve on their own.

Wearable-agnostic by design

The most strategically significant feature of the agreement is that the model will be wearable-agnostic. Instead of locking the tool to Ultrahuman’s ring, the company and ADPHC aim to build a model that can ingest data from a range of devices, including smartwatches and other rings.

Kumar told TechCrunch that data from rings, wrist-worn devices, straps and patches could feed into the system alongside clinical biomarkers. “If you look at Ultrahuman as a company, we obviously have the Ultrahuman Ring, which is a way to acquire data from the human body,” he said. “But truly, what we care about is not just the form factor, the ring, but what do we do with this data?”

For a public health agency, that design is essential. A government cannot reasonably promote a health metric available only to owners of a single brand. For Ultrahuman, it is a bet that the long-term value in wearables lies as much in software, models and health-system integration as in hardware.

Privacy has been built into the structure of the deal. According to TechCrunch, the model will not be trained on UAE residents’ data, and Ultrahuman will not receive personally identifiable information through the partnership. That approach is likely to reassure regulators in a region that has tightened data-protection rules, particularly around health data.

A crowded Gulf battleground

Ultrahuman is not alone in courting Abu Dhabi. Finnish rival Oura, the market leader in smart rings, has its own agreement with authorities in the emirate. The competition reflects the Gulf’s emergence as an attractive market for health technology: high disposable incomes, young and digitally connected populations, and governments that are investing heavily in preventive health as part of economic diversification plans.

Lifestyle-related conditions, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease, are significant public health concerns across the Gulf, and authorities are increasingly interested in tools that encourage earlier behaviour change. Wearables that track sleep, activity and metabolic signals fit neatly into that agenda.

The UAE’s large Indian diaspora gives Indian-founded brands such as Ultrahuman a natural early customer base and brand familiarity. That community has helped many Indian consumer and technology companies establish their first foothold in the region.

From hardware to health platform

Ultrahuman has sold around 800,000 rings since launch, according to the company, making it one of the most successful Indian consumer hardware brands globally. It has expanded its product line beyond the ring to include a continuous glucose monitoring platform, a home health monitor and blood-testing services, as it seeks to become a broader health platform.

The next phase of wearables will be decided less by sensors and more by which models health systems are prepared to trust. A validated, public-health-backed biological-age model would strengthen Ultrahuman’s position in conversations with insurers, employers and governments, the institutional buyers that can unlock large-scale adoption.

A broader population to learn from

The partnership also gives Ultrahuman access to a far more diverse population than its own customer base. Kumar told TechCrunch that the company’s typical users are between 25 and 43 years old. Validating the model across the UAE, with its wide range of ages and nationalities, would test whether it holds up for older adults and groups that rarely buy premium wearables.

Ultrahuman says the underlying model was developed using its existing data, combining users’ chronological ages with wearable signals and, for some users, blood-test markers, allowing it to track how health markers typically change with age and identify deviations from those patterns.

What it means

The ADPHC partnership is a modest commercial deal in the short term, but its strategic value is significant. It positions Ultrahuman as a health-technology partner to a government, gives it a channel to millions of residents through official platforms and offers scientific validation that could be used in other markets.

Challenges remain. Translating a consumer wellness metric into a tool that public health officials trust will require rigorous research, transparent methods and evidence that the measure predicts real outcomes. Competition from Oura and big technology companies, including Samsung, Apple and Google, which recently launched its Fitbit Edge tracker, will intensify.

Ultrahuman’s Gulf strategy strengthens the case that Indian hardware companies can compete internationally on product and science, not just price. If the Abu Dhabi model succeeds, it could become a template for partnerships with health systems far beyond the UAE.