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Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is just one of the high-profile investors in the new round of funding for the WHOOP personal health platform.<\/span><\/p>\n Los Angeles Times via Getty Images<\/small><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n If ESPN married the Wall Street Journal<\/em>, the guest list might read like the list of the investors who just gave the artificial intelligence-powered WHOOP health platform more than a half billion dollars.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s wearable connects to an analystics platform that promises its data will do nothing less than help users \u201cextend healthspan, optimize performance and prevent disease before it begins.\u201d That potential won WHOOP a Series G investment of $575 million<\/u><\/a> and a valuation of $10.1 billion from, in the company\u2019s words, \u201cthe world\u2019s most sophisticated investors, leading health institutions and iconic global athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n The name-dropping is impeccably impressive. On the sports side, a partial list includes LeBron James, one of the greatest basketball players in history; Cristiano Ronaldo, a candidate for that same honor in what we call soccer and the rest of the world calls football; and Rory McIlroy<\/u><\/a>, who during his career was ranked the number one golfer in the world for over 100 weeks. On the finance side there is the Qatar Investment Authority; the Mubadala Investment Company, the sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates; and Abu Dhabi\u2019s giant 2PointZero Group. To show the health care industry\u2019s support for the happy couple, you\u2019ve got Abbott Laboratories and the Mayo Clinic.<\/p>\n The entire round, meanwhile, was led by the Collaborative Fund,<\/u><\/a> whose mission \u201cis to identify and support companies that live at the intersection of for-profit and for-good.\u201d<\/p>\n Right now, the \u201cfor-good\u201d part requires an asterisk. The WHOOP press release says its biometric monitoring system \u201chas become an essential platform for those committed to performing and living at their highest level.\u201d However, it remains less clear the extent to which the platform will be adopted by those for whom performing and living at the \u201chighest level\u201d is less of a concern that simply having adequate health and wealth to enjoy life with family and friends.<\/p>\n The WHOOP device, worn on the wrist or body, is meant to track \u201coptimal sleep\u201d and monitor resting heart rate and heart rate variability, as well as key metrics \u201cscientifically proven to make the most significant impact on your health<\/u><\/a>.\u201d It will do this \u201cpowered by more than 24 billion hours of physiological data and purpose-built AI models,\u201d providing \u201cpredictive, personalized health insights\u201d \u2013 at least, as long as you continue paying your annual membership fee.<\/p>\n And why wouldn\u2019t you, when, as WHOOP explains about its \u201chealth operating system,\u201d you will now have the opportunity to expand your \u201chealthspan\u201d to an extent that, the company implies, would be the envy of Egyptian pharaohs, China\u2019s first emperor and Ponce de Leon.<\/p>\n The device certainly has enthusiasts. Others, however, are more restrained in their endorsement. A June, 2025 review by John O\u2019Connor, founder of a company<\/u><\/a> that uses a proprietary algorithm to recommend a personalized diet based on genetics (perhaps the ideal WHOOP user), compared the company\u2019s strap to the Oura ring, also a biometric tracker. O\u2019Connor goes down a list of personal pros and cons \u2013 I wonder whether those world-class athletes get annoyed by the product getting wet in the shower? \u2013 but concludes that the product, \u201cespecially when worn for years, is a good window into your current state of health.\u201d<\/p>\n In that same modest vein, an article in the journal Sensor<\/u><\/em><\/a> examined nearly a million days and nights of longitudinal data from WHOOP subscribers (with the company\u2019s participation in the study) and concluded there was \u201creal-world evidence that sustained wearable engagement may support healthier habits and improved physiological outcomes over time.\u201d<\/p>\n Not quite pharaonic, but certainly encouraging.<\/p>\nPerformance vs. Promises<\/h2>\n
The Big Picture<\/h2>\n