This startup constructed a Fitbit on your mind to fight continual stress

Antonio Forenza was working as head of analysis and growth at Rakuten Symphony, a telecom subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate, when he realized that he wanted to discover a higher strategy to handle his stress ranges.

A couple of years earlier, he had misplaced 40 kilos with the assistance of an Apple Watch, which counted steps and tracked his calorie burn, and he started questioning if there was the same system to evaluate his stress.

“I needed to lose 40 kilos of stress, and realized there’s no wearable for that at this time,” Forenza advised TechCrunch.

That’s when Forenza realized he’d stumbled onto a spot within the client well being market. Drawing on his engineering background, he determined to construct the system himself, utilizing a greater than century-old expertise: the electroencephalogram (EEG) to detect and measure electrical exercise within the mind.

Whereas EEG is used clinically to diagnose illnesses similar to epilepsy and sleep problems, it may additionally detect psychological stress by measuring high-frequency mind waves referred to as beta waves. When these fast beta waves persist for prolonged intervals, they’ll result in exhaustion, insomnia, and psychological misery.

Forenza collaborated with information scientists and biomedical engineers to develop Awear, a small system worn behind the ear for steady brainwave monitoring. The system transmits outcomes to an app, which supplies details about the wearer’s temper and presents AI-powered teaching recommendation for managing stress and bettering emotional resilience.   

“Our mind is phenomenal at self-adjusting and makes us consider we aren’t confused,” Forenza mentioned. “It’s effective to be in ‘battle or flight’ each infrequently. It’s a part of our nature. However if you happen to fall into the lure of fixed ‘battle or flight’, then that results in continual stress, melancholy, anxiousness.”

Forenza claims that Awear helps customers proactively intercept extreme stress earlier than it results in adverse well being results.

Awear is a Startup Battlefield 200 finalist at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025,  the place it gained well being class pitch competitors.

Whereas Stanford College’s psychiatry division is presently testing the system to detect confusion and disorientation in aged sufferers after surgical procedure, Forenza’s major focus is on promoting Awear to particular person shoppers, just like the method taken by the Oura ring and different client wearables.

Earlier this yr, Awear closed a pre-seed funding spherical led by Hustle Fund, Niremia Collective, Techstars, and The Pitch Fund, and the corporate plans to boost a $5 million seed spherical in early 2026.  

For now, Awear is obtainable for buy solely via its early-access program. The system is obtainable to early adopters — a gaggle that already contains many different startup founders, a notoriously stressed-out group — for $195, which features a complimentary lifetime app subscription.

After elevating its seed spherical, the corporate will launch a Kickstarter marketing campaign, following a method utilized by units similar to Peloton and Oura. “It’s a path that labored for a lot of different wearables. It offers you plenty of visibility, and it’s a great way to accumulate clients,” Forenza mentioned.