This startup built a Fitbit for your brain to combat chronic stress

Antonio Forenza was the head of research and development at Rakuten Symphony, a telecom subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate, when he realized he needed a better way to manage his stress.

A few years earlier, he had lost 40 pounds using his Apple Watch, which tracked his steps and calorie burn. That success made him wonder if there was a similar device that could help him evaluate his stress levels.

“I wanted to lose 40 pounds of stress, and realized there’s no wearable for that today,” Forenza told TechCrunch.

That was the moment he recognized a gap in the consumer health market. With his engineering background, he set out to build the solution himself — using a technology that has existed for more than a century: the electroencephalogram (EEG), which measures electrical activity in the brain.

While EEG is widely used in clinical settings to diagnose epilepsy, sleep disorders, and other neurological conditions, it can also detect psychological stress by identifying high-frequency beta waves. When these beta waves remain elevated for prolonged periods, they can trigger exhaustion, sleep disturbances, and mental strain.

Forenza partnered with biomedical engineers and data scientists to create Awear, a compact, ear-worn device that provides continuous brainwave tracking. The device syncs with an app that analyses mood patterns and provides AI-driven coaching guidance to help users manage stress and build emotional resilience.

“Our brain is phenomenal at self-adjusting and makes us believe we are not stressed,” Forenza explained. “It’s fine to enter ‘fight or flight’ occasionally — that’s natural. But staying in that mode constantly leads to chronic stress, anxiety, and depression.”

Forenza says Awear is designed to help people identify rising stress levels early, long before they escalate into serious mental or physical health problems.

Awear was selected as a Startup Battlefield 200 finalist at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, where it won the health category pitch competition.

Although Stanford University’s psychiatry department is currently evaluating the device to detect post-operative confusion and disorientation in elderly patients, Forenza’s primary goal is the consumer market, similar to wearables like the Oura Ring.

Earlier in the year, Awear completed a pre-seed funding round led by Hustle Fund, Niremia Collective, Techstars, and The Pitch Fund. The company now plans to raise a $5 million seed round in early 2026.

At the moment, Awear is only available through an early-access program. Early adopters — including many startup founders, a group familiar with chronic stress — can purchase the device for $195, which includes a lifetime app subscription at no additional cost.

After closing its seed round, the company intends to launch a Kickstarter campaign, following the path of consumer wearables like Peloton and Oura. “It’s a strategy that worked well for many other wearables. It gives you strong visibility and is an effective way to attract customers,” Forenza said.