Photo: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
Editor's note: This article has been updated with a quote from WHOOP.
Boston-based wearable fitness company WHOOP has been awarded a contract from MIT Lincoln Laboratory, under sponsorship from the U.S. Navy, to use its wearable to evaluate crew readiness and reduce fatigue-related risk across naval forces.
WHOOP offers a fitness and health wearable with a 14-day battery life that tracks sleep, activity, heart health and menstrual cycle.
The company offers a Blood Pressure Insights (BPI) feature that provides systolic and diastolic readings, blood biomarker analysis, ECG and a longevity feature.
In a statement, WHOOP said it will support the U.S. Navy's Command Readiness, Endurance and Watchstanding (CREW) program by providing wearable data and insights into crew members' fatigue, readiness and performance.
WHOOP will work with MIT to integrate its wearables systems into the CREW system framework.
"This contract reflects growing recognition of the role continuous physiological data can play in high-performance settings," a WHOOP spokesperson told MobiHealthNews. "For the U.S. Navy, it signals a broader shift toward more data-informed approaches to supporting service members’ health, readiness and performance in demanding conditions."
THE LARGER TREND
The contract follows a contentious procurement battle in which WHOOP challenged the Department of Defense (DoD) wearable deal with ring maker Oura, which contributed to the eventual cancellation of the ring maker's $96 million contract.
The DoD initially formed a partnership with Oura in 2019 to examine how Oura Rings could "enhance human performance across all branches of the armed services," according to the ring maker.
In 2024, Oura won a federal contract valued at approximately $96 million to supply rings and analytics services to military personnel, as announced on the government contracting site Sam.gov.
In a statement, Oura said its Ring advances defense operations in the areas of stress management, resilience training, fitness optimization, fatigue risk management and early illness detection.
Following the announcement, WHOOP filed multiple protests with the U.S. Government Accountability Office, arguing that the contract unfairly favored a ring-based device.
The dispute created significant pressure on the procurement process, and the controversial $96 million contract with Oura, criticized as effectively sole-source, was ultimately canceled.
In late 2024, the DoD issued another request for information and a subsequent request for proposal, again specifying a ring-based wearable.
In January 2025, WHOOP issued a second protest to the Government Accountability Office and told Breaking Defense that it was eager to compete on a level playing field.
"We regret that DHA leadership has decided, for no discernibly valid reason, to effectively sole-source this requirement to a foreign company," a WHOOP spokesperson told Breaking Defense.
"In this case, the agency’s 'ring-based form factor' requirement is unnecessarily restrictive, excluding companies constituting more than 97% of the current commercial market. We hope that DHA leadership reconsiders its approach and allows innovative American companies like WHOOP to compete."
Despite the high-profile contract cancellation, Oura continues to have a broad partnership with the DoD, which includes research collaborations, existing deployments, and ongoing expansion and infrastructure investment.
Last year, Oura announced it was opening a manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas, to support the DoD, which became its largest enterprise customer. The facility, expected to become fully operational in 2026, will fulfill defense contracts and feature enhanced security measures, innovative production practices and advanced automation, the company said.
Separately, WHOOP has continued to expand, and in March, the company garnered $575 million in Series G funding, boosting its valuation to $10.1 billion.
In 2021, WHOOP raised $200 million in Series F funding at a $3.6 billion valuation, a year after securing $100 million in Series E financing and reaching unicorn status at a $1.2 billion valuation.
WHOOP has also faced scrutiny from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which last year said its Blood Pressure Insights feature qualifies as a medical device under federal law as it provides daily systolic and diastolic estimates, which are inherently tied to diagnosing and treating hypertension.
WHOOP CEO and founder Will Ahmed publicly responded to the FDA's letter, arguing that the feature does not need FDA approval as it is a wellness tool and falls under the 21st Century Cures Act.
As of early 2026, the FDA and WHOOP standoff is ongoing.
