UPDATE: Oura delayed its IPO on September 29th, 2026.
Oura publicly filed its S-1 with the SEC on September 3, 2026. Oura employees should prepare now because the tax impact will be real: time-vested double-trigger RSUs will be taxable as ordinary income at the IPO.
Key Summary
- Many details about the IPO are yet to be announced: IPO price, timing, terms of the lockup period, and which employees need a 10b5-1 trading plan
- Tax planning and diversification strategies to de-risk your concentration are crucial
- Long-term wealth planning is essential after the IPO, as financial situations and needs will evolve significantly over time
- Employees should engage a financial advisor for equity compensation to navigate the complexities of managing a multi-million-dollar liquidity event
What to Expect at the Oura IPO
Oura employees with RSUs and stock options need to start making a plan for their equity – fast. Because of the nuances with equity compensation and the IPO process, it’s important to partner with a financial advisor that specializes in pre-IPO financial planning.
If you have restricted stock units, common shares, or stock options with Oura, here’s what to expect in an IPO, your top planning priorities, how to diversify concentrated stock after the lock-up, and initial considerations for long-term wealth building. This article has more on what an IPO means for employees and what to expect when a company goes public.
How Taxes Work with Oura Equity
Before the IPO, take the time to organize your equity. Understand what you have, how long you’ve had it, and your cost basis.
RSUs
Time-vested, double-trigger RSUs will be taxable as regular income when Oura IPOs, triggering a major tax event. This income is subject to federal, state, and local taxes in addition to payroll taxes from Medicare and Social Security. Automatic withholding may not match your actual tax liability, so discuss with your financial and tax advisor early to calculate estimates.
After the company goes public, as new RSUs meet time-based vesting requirements, they’ll be subject to the same tax rules.
Learn more about how RSUs are taxed here, including tax filing tips to avoid overpaying.
Stock Options: ISOs and NSOs
Oura offers incentive or non-qualified stock options. Both have tax implications at exercise and sale, but you control the timing of both those events. This article has details and examples on how stock options are taxed.
With the IPO seemingly looming, the window to exercise more shares before Oura goes public has likely passed. Exercising right ahead of an IPO is always challenging given valuations.
Incentive Stock Options (ISOs)
If you exercised ISOs earlier this year, work closely with your tax advisor on AMT and tax projections. Exercising too many shares can trigger a big AMT bill, and sometimes, the only way around it is a disqualifying sale. So you may need to consider selling those shares if a trading window opens before year-end. ISOs are only income for the AMT if held through 12/31.
When developing your diversification plan, always consider dual cost basis and AMT tax credits and ongoing exercises under the AMT crossover point.
Nonqualified Stock Options (NSOs)
Exercising NSOs is a taxable event at ordinary income tax rates, and withholding is required on the spread at exercise. So most employees at late-stage pre-IPO companies will sell nonqualified stock options in a tender offer or keep them until after the company goes public.
In your sales plan, consider whether NSOs are best for same-day sales and ISOs for long-term holding depending on your equity mix. Nonqualified options may also be better in a 10b5-1 plan.
Restricted Stock Awards (RSAs)
Restricted shares are usually granted at no cost and subject to vesting terms. Unlike restricted stock units, restricted stock awards have a tax planning opportunity through the 83(b) election. The vesting and terms of your RSA award are in your grant document and the company’s equity plan. This article has more on how restricted stock is taxed.
Aside from regular RSA grants, according to the S-1, in connection with an acquisition completed in June 2023, Oura granted 402,708 restricted shares of Series C-1 redeemable convertible preferred stock as awards to certain employees. These awards vest with various anniversaries of the acquisition closing date.
Common Stock
Oura employees who exercised and held stock options, were granted unrestricted shares, or have fully-vested RSAs own common stock. When the company goes public, these shares will trade under the ticker OURA. Shares will be subject to capital gains tax, and potentially other taxes too, when you sell and diversify.
Oura Lock-up Period
Oura will have a post-IPO lock-up period, which was recently made public in their S-1 filing. Similar to SpaceX, the Oura lock-up period is staged and includes performance-based share release.
Time-based post-IPO lock-up release:
- 35 days after IPO — 5%
- 49 days after IPO — 5%
- 63 days after IPO — 5%
- 77 days after IPO — 9%
- 112 days after IPO — 8%
- 126 days after IPO — 8%
- 140 days after IPO — 6%
- 154 days after IPO — 18%*
- 168 days after IPO — 18%*
- 181 days after IPO — 18%*
*Could be reduced if price-based triggers hit
Price-based early release triggers (in first 60 calendar days):
- Stage 1: 25% Price Trigger
- Stage 2: 33% Price Trigger
- Stage 3: 40% Price Trigger
Price-based releases may release of additional shares during the first 60 calendar days following the IPO, with each releasing 6% of shares if the stock trades higher than the stated percentage above the IPO price for any 5 out of 10 consecutive trading days, in sequential order by stage.
Current employees subject to company trading policy; rules differ for executives and individuals with MNPI. This is a summary and not a complete outline of all the lock-up rules for Oura employees and shareholders. See SEC filings for most current and complete information. This is not legal/tax/financial advice!
When Can Employees Trade Oura Stock?
Oura Health IPO · Share Lockup Release Schedule
| Event | Est. Date | Type | Release | Cumul. (Base) | Cumul. (Max) |
|---|
10b5-1 Trading Plans
A 10b5-1 trading plan can provide an affirmative defense against insider trading allegations. Although anyone can set up a 10b5-1 plan, the company’s trading policy and legal team will typically identify who has access to MNPI and what trading limitations those people have.
It’s possible to adopt a plan during a lockup period, subject to company rules, timing, and your situation. If you’re an Oura employee and need a 10b5-1 plan, you may have even less time to develop your sales and diversification plan, so start thinking about this now.
When designing your trading plan, consider your liquidity needs, both vested and vesting shares, and a mix of market sales and limit orders. If you have ISOs and NSOs, ISOs are generally the better choice for long-term holding periods. Because of the tax rules, NSOs might be better than ISOs in a 10b5-1 plan. Consider keeping ISOs you plan to exercise and hold outside of the trading plan for flexibility (these are sales plans, not purchase plans).
Your financial advisor can help you with plan design and strategy. If you don’t have an advisor who specializes in employee equity, we can help.
Diversifying After the Oura IPO
The first 90 days after a liquidity event are the most important to set the right foundation and preserve your optionality. The priority isn’t making decisions, it’s inventorying the situation, understanding taxes, coordinating with your advisory team, and making sure key deadlines aren’t missed.
Diversifying and selling company stock after the IPO will be a process, and that starts when the company goes public.
Sales Plan and De-Risking Strategy
Prepare for lockup releases ahead of time and build a diversification plan around reducing risk, your cash needs, and baseline savings. Every sales plan will be 100% dependent on your specific situation, but here are some key areas to consider.
- Ways to optimize for taxes considering cost basis, holding periods, equity type and tax treatment, new exercises, potential residency changes, gifting, charitable giving, etc.
- Your options for managing concentrated stock as a current or former employee. These strategies include hedging and generating income with options trading (like a covered call)
- Tax-aware investing strategies like direct indexing with a portion of the proceeds to harvest losses to offset taxable gains
- Ways to diversify around a concentrated position through your non-Oura holdings
Allocating Proceeds from the IPO and Long-Term Wealth Planning
What’s Your Baseline Number?
When working with clients after a major liquidity event, we’ll run Monte Carlo simulations to quantify how much is needed for baseline financial goals. With your first sales, try to cover taxes and baseline financial needs. After that you may have more flexibility with the sales plan and price targets.
For example, this analysis shows what a hypothetical portfolio between $2M and $15M could support annually over a 25- and 45-year retirement horizon. This can give you a sense of how much you may need in net, after-tax cash proceeds.
Other Tips for Allocating Proceeds
Once your baseline financial security number is invested for the long-term, quantify lifestyle goals and other objectives. Here are some tips for using the proceeds.
- Paying off low-cost debt is usually a mistake, as is locking up too much liquidity initially in a new home
- Superfunding a 529 plan to fully-fund your college savings targets
- Run projections to assess the feasibility of gifting money or stock to family or charitable giving
- Don’t give away too much too soon! You can only spend a dollar once. A major sudden wealth event can trigger an unexpected emotional response, including stress
Long-Term Planning After a Liquidity Event
The IPO is just the beginning. Your financial situation, life stage, goals, tax situation, risk profile, income needs, and family situation will evolve and change. The planning and investment opportunities change when the complexity of your situation grows alongside your net worth. One of the biggest post-IPO mistakes is assuming everything will be kept up to date and optimized after a one-time planning exercise.
After the IPO, revisit the overall structure of your estate plan, assuming you have one to begin with. Even if you do have documents in place, when the numbers are a lot bigger many clients need to make changes, set up new trusts, and modify roles and responsibilities.
Next Steps for Your Oura Equity
With so many things to consider during a liquidity event, working with a fiduciary financial advisor and sudden wealth management firm can help you build a strategy for the proceeds. Schedule a call with an advisor.
Darrow Wealth Management is nationally recognized for pre-IPO financial planning and guiding clients through sudden wealth and major liquidity events.
Publications above reflect media organizations that have quoted and/or published articles authored by Kristin McKenna and should not be misconstrued as a current or past endorsement of Kristin McKenna, Darrow Wealth Management, or any of its advisors. Please refer to the media page for more information and links to published works.
Oura IPO Planning
Advice for the IPO. Wealth Management for the Long-Term.
Oura IPO Frequently Asked Questions
Oura publicly filed its S-1 with the SEC on September 3, 2026. As of 9/17, the IPO price, timing, and lockup terms haven’t been announced, which is exactly why it’s worth organizing your equity now rather than waiting for the date.
Oura uses double-trigger RSUs, so your time-vested shares vest and become taxable as ordinary income when the company goes public, based on the IPO price. Withholding is automatic through sell-to-cover, but it may not match what you actually owe.
No. Oura will have a lockup period, and the most common length is 180 days, though underwriters sometimes allow earlier partial releases. The terms haven’t been made public yet.
It’s a pre-arranged trading plan that lets insiders and other employees with MNPI sell stock while staying compliant with insider trading rules. Whether you need one depends on Oura’s trading policy and whether you’re deemed to have material nonpublic information.
Enough to cover taxes on major sales and to fund your baseline financial needs. We use projections to put a real number on “enough,” so the plan is driven by your goals rather than the share price.
[Last reviewed September 2026]
