Antonio Forenza was leading research and development at Rakuten Symphony when he confronted a problem he couldn’t engineer his way out of: stress. Years earlier, an Apple Watch had helped him shed 40 pounds by tracking activity and calories burned. Now he wanted something similar to measure his mental load.

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

That realization revealed a major gap in consumer health tech. With an engineering background to lean on, Forenza began building his own solution using a century-old technology: electroencephalography (EEG). Traditionally used in clinical settings to diagnose conditions like epilepsy and sleep disorders, EEG can also detect psychological stress by monitoring high-frequency beta waves. When these waves remain elevated for long periods, they often signal exhaustion, insomnia, or emotional strain.

Working with data scientists and biomedical engineers, Forenza developed Awear, a discreet device worn behind the ear that tracks brainwaves continuously. The sensor streams data to a companion app that analyzes mood in real time and offers AI-powered coaching 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 said. “It’s fine to be in ‘fight or flight’ sometimes. It’s part of our nature. But when you get stuck in that mode, it leads to chronic stress, depression, anxiety.”

Forenza says Awear aims to detect rising stress before it becomes harmful.

The startup is a TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 Startup Battlefield 200 finalist, where it won the health category pitch competition.

While Stanford’s psychiatry department is currently studying Awear for monitoring confusion and disorientation in older patients after surgery, Forenza’s main ambition is a consumer market play similar to Oura Ring and other wellness wearables.

Earlier this year, Awear secured a pre-seed round from Hustle Fund, Niremia Collective, Techstars, and The Pitch Fund. The team plans to raise a $5 million seed round in early 2026.

For now, Awear is available only through an early-access program. Early adopters — many of them startup founders, a demographic with no shortage of stress — can buy the device for $195, which includes a lifetime app subscription at no extra cost.

Following its seed round, the company expects to launch a Kickstarter campaign, a path successfully used by Peloton, Oura, and other hardware-first brands. “It gives you a lot of visibility, and it’s a good way to acquire customers,” Forenza said.

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