Antonio Forenza was working as a analysis and improvement director at Rakuten Symphony, a telecommunications subsidiary of a Japanese conglomerate, when he realized he wanted to discover a higher approach to handle his stress ranges.
A couple of years in the past, he misplaced 40 kilos because of his Apple Watch, which counts steps and data energy burned, and he began questioning if there was the same machine to evaluate his stress.
“I needed to cut back my stress by 40 kilos, and I spotted there wasn’t a wearable that might do this proper now,” Forenza informed TechCrunch.
That is when Forenza realized he had stumbled upon a spot within the client well being market. He determined to make use of his engineering background to construct his personal machine utilizing a greater than century-old know-how known as electroencephalography (EEG), which detects and measures electrical exercise within the mind.
EEG is used clinically to diagnose ailments similar to epilepsy and sleep issues, however psychological stress can be detected by measuring high-frequency mind waves known as beta waves. If these fast beta waves proceed for lengthy durations of time, they’ll trigger fatigue, insomnia, and psychological misery.
Forenza works with knowledge scientists and biomedical engineers to awarea small machine worn behind the ear to repeatedly monitor mind waves. The machine sends outcomes to an app, offering details about the wearer’s temper and offering AI-powered teaching recommendation to handle stress and improve emotional resilience.
“Our brains are superb at self-regulation, tricking us into believing that we’re not confused,” Forenza says. “It is okay to fall into ‘battle or flight’ every now and then. It is a part of our nature. However after we always fall into the ‘battle or flight’ lure, it results in persistent stress, despair, and nervousness.”
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Forenza claims that Awear helps customers proactively minimize off extreme stress earlier than it triggers. Adverse health effects.
Awear was chosen as a Startup Battlefield 200 finalist at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 and received the pitch competitors within the well being class.
Stanford College’s Division of Psychiatry is at the moment testing a tool to detect confusion and disorientation in older sufferers after surgical procedure, however Forenza’s major focus is on advertising and marketing Awear to particular person shoppers, much like the strategy 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 lift a $5 million seed spherical in early 2026.
At the moment, Awear is just accessible for buy via an early entry program. The machine is obtainable to early adopters (a bunch that already contains many different startup founders and is notoriously confused) for $195, which features a free lifetime app subscription.
After elevating a seed spherical, the corporate plans to launch a Kickstarter marketing campaign following a method utilized by gadgets like Peloton and Oura. “That is the best way it is labored for lots of different wearables. It offers you a number of visibility and is an effective approach to purchase prospects,” Forenza stated.
