Technical

Srinivasa Reddy Kandi: This Startup Built a “Fitbit for Your Brain” to Help Combat Chronic Stress

December, 06, 2025-04:20

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This Startup Built a “Fitbit for Your Brain” to Help Combat Chronic Stress:

Antonio Forenza, formerly head of research and development at Rakuten Symphony—a telecom arm of the Japanese conglomerate—realized during his high-pressure career that he needed a better way to manage stress.

Years earlier, he had successfully lost 40 pounds with help from an Apple Watch, which tracked his steps and calorie burn. That experience made him wonder: Why isn’t there a similar device that can track stress?

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

That question revealed a major gap in the consumer health market. Drawing on his engineering expertise, Forenza set out to create a device that could measure stress directly from the brain using a long-established technology: the electroencephalogram (EEG).

EEG is commonly used in clinical settings to diagnose epilepsy, sleep disorders, and other neurological conditions. But it can also detect psychological stress by tracking high-frequency beta waves. When these beta waves remain elevated over time, they are linked to mental fatigue, insomnia, and emotional strain.

To bring his idea to life, Forenza teamed up with biomedical engineers and data scientists to develop Awear—a compact, behind-the-ear wearable capable of continuously monitoring brain activity. The device sends real-time readings to a companion app that analyzes emotional patterns and provides AI-driven coaching to help users manage stress and build resilience.

“Our brain is incredibly good at adapting—and sometimes tricking us into thinking we’re not stressed,” Forenza explained. “Occasional ‘fight or flight’ is natural. But when our brain gets stuck in that mode, it leads to chronic stress, anxiety, and depression.”

Author: Kandi Srinivasa Reddy, Srinivasa Reddy Kandi, #KandiSrinivasaReddy, #SrinivasaReddyKandi