Antonio Forenza was working as a research and development director at Rakuten Symphony, a telecommunications subsidiary of a Japanese conglomerate, when he realized he needed to find a better way to manage his stress levels.
A few years ago, he lost 40 pounds thanks to his Apple Watch, which counts steps and records calories burned, and he started wondering if there was a similar device to assess his stress.
“I wanted to reduce my stress by 40 pounds, and I realized there wasn’t a wearable that could do that right now,” Forenza told TechCrunch.
That’s when Forenza realized he had stumbled upon a gap in the consumer health market. He decided to use his engineering background to build his own device using a more than century-old technology called electroencephalography (EEG), which detects and measures electrical activity in the brain.
EEG is used clinically to diagnose diseases such as epilepsy and sleep disorders, but psychological stress can also be detected by measuring high-frequency brain waves called beta waves. If these rapid beta waves continue for long periods of time, they can cause fatigue, insomnia, and psychological distress.
Forenza collaborated with data scientists and biomedical engineers to develop Awear, a small device worn behind the ear for continuous brainwave monitoring. The device sends results to an app, providing information about the wearer’s mood and providing AI-powered coaching advice to manage stress and increase emotional resilience.
“Our brains are amazing at self-regulation, tricking us into believing that we are not stressed,” Forenza says. “It’s okay to fall into ‘fight or flight’ from time to time. It’s part of our nature. But when we constantly fall into the ‘fight or flight’ trap, it leads to chronic stress, depression, and anxiety.”
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Forenza claims that Awear helps users proactively block excess stress before it negatively impacts their health.
Awear was selected as a Startup Battlefield 200 finalist at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 and won the pitch competition in the health category.
Stanford University’s Department of Psychiatry is currently testing a device to detect confusion and disorientation in older patients after surgery, but Forenza’s main focus is on marketing Awear to individual consumers, similar to the approach taken by the Oura ring and other consumer wearables.
Earlier this year, Awear closed a pre-seed funding round led by Hustle Fund, Niremia Collective, Techstars, and The Pitch Fund, and the company plans to raise a $5 million seed round in early 2026.
At this time, Awear is only available for purchase through an early access program. The device is available to early adopters (a group that already includes many other startup founders and is notoriously stressed) for $195, which includes a free lifetime app subscription.
After raising a seed round, the company plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign following a strategy used by devices like Peloton and Oura. “This is the way it’s worked for a lot of other wearables. It gives you a lot of visibility and is a good way to acquire customers,” Forenza said.
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