I found the long-lost Velia smart ring at CES, and it’s very thin

It’s been a long road for Velia’s sentient ring, and I’d sort of given up on it becoming a reality.

It was first called Iris, I wrote about it in 2023, but it had to change its name to VELIA and relaunch from Kickstarter to Indiegogo. They have had over 8,000 baggers on their Indiegogo campaign alone, raising over $2 million. But fast forward to 2025, and backers are barely receiving sizing kits.

The crowdfunding showed off a sleek smart ring that tracked a host of biometric and wellness stats, including (unbelievably) blood pressure. But, as is so common in crowdfunding, multiple campaigns left disgruntled backers without hardware years after parting with their money. A quick look at the Indiegogo page shows dozens of angry supporters.

So I was surprised to see Velia at CES Unveiled, and the founders had working samples and the promise of a launch in April 2025. Given the promises to date, everything has to be taken with a grain of salt.

But here’s the thing: Velia looks fantastic. The Velia ring is so thin that it is almost half the thickness of an Oura Ring 4.

The founders revealed that they were a semiconductor company at heart and had shrunk a PPG sensor to make it the smallest on the market. From there, the company was able to reduce its ring to what would be a revolutionary size: it’s 5mm wide, compared to the Oura Ring 4’s more than 7mm.

The company also uses two types of PPG detection, which it claims increases the accuracy of its sensors. The PPG sensor will track heart rate and SpO2 in the standard way of reflecting light from the LED to your photoreceptors, but it will also transmit the light through the finger.

It should be noted that the ring will only be shipped in four sizes: US6/8/10/12. Therefore, many patrons will not find the perfect option for the ring they paid for.

Fortunately, I’m a US120m and have the opportunity to test the Velia at the CES Unveiled booth. Thinness is truly impressive, but that, of course, is only half the story.

What we don’t know yet is whether the thinner form factor can produce the necessary precision. And even if she could, what an expert Velia is at analyzing data and making it actionable.

We’ve seen impressive sensors before, but semiconductor companies often don’t have the expertise to make the data meaningful. It’s all very well producing a page of biomarkers and data points, but if you can’t make it viable, then people won’t stick with the platform.

But the hardware alone represents what smart rings should be.

The founders acknowledge the difficulties they have faced in getting to market, but believe they are driving the smart ring segment forward. Whether what they have produced will be good enough to satisfy disgruntled backers and convince new customers to join the platform is another question.