VELIA announces fresh delay for its smart health-tracking ring
The launch date of the VELIA smart ring has been delayed again. The VELIA wearable, previously known as the Iris smart ring, launched in Kickstarter and Indiegogo crowdfunding campaigns early in 2023, raising a total of $1,800,000. Since then, the health-tracking ring has been shown at CES 2024, where it won an innovation award.
Though the product delivery date for project backers was initially scheduled for December 2023, customers have now been told that the device will ship in July 2024 at the earliest. The announcement was made on the crowdfunding campaign pages, with a supporting YouTube video explaining how the funds were being spent. Here, the founders said that the company had sought further investment, which had taken a significant amount of time given the economic climate, and suggested that this was the cause of the postponed shipping date.
Understandably, many backers have voiced their disappointment and concerns, with some going so far as to suggest that they would purchase an Oura smart ring instead. Several customers also noted that it was odd that the ring sizing kits had yet to be distributed. According to VELIA’s statement, they expect to send out these kits in May. Hopefully, any new funds raised by the company will help it meet its latest timeline for delivering the VELIA smart ring to crowdfunding campaign backers.