In the Fort Worth stockyards Tuesday at the historic Isis Theater, a new generation unveiled their ideas for the future.
Techstars Physical Health Fort Worth Accelerator, a first-of-its-kind partnership between the City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, UNT’s Health Science Center and Goff Capital and Techstars, wrapped up a 13-week program that included the founders of 10 startups from around the world who are developing technology they believe will revolutionize the health care industry.
"Tonight is a big night for Fort Worth,” said Managing Director Trey Bowles." Because of what happened with the global pandemic, we've seen an acceleration of technology, specifically in telehealth and digital health solutions. The companies that have come through our program here are leading the world in solving problems and coming up with solutions that fit that physical health world.”
That includes companies like BOOMROOM, founded by Anna Shuford out of Charlotte North Carolina.
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“We really started with a COVID idea. We all hated taking the Zoom workouts. We're like, Okay, this has just got to be better. So what we came to was, how do we improve the actual live virtual class experience?” said Shuford.
Shuford said her online platform will help fitness entrepreneurs not only stream classes but streamline their business all in one place.
For Stefan Weiss, a lack of fitness resources while traveling led to the idea for smart resistance bands, which his startup Straffr plans to bring to the market.
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“It's gamified and really motivating so you can have an interactive training experience on the go,” said Weiss. “The innovation is really inside the band, which means we put a sensor inside this band. And this unit is only transmitting the training data and sends it to our app.”
There, Weiss said pro coaches and trainers can provide feedback to lead to a more effective training experience.
Both companies were among the 10 that Bowles said were selected from more than 4,500 for mentorship and investment to launch ideas they believe will lead to a smarter and healthier future.
"It gives you so much energy and excitement to kind of push forward and use these kinds of innovations to actually help people,” said Weiss.
Next year, Bowles said another ten startups will be selected for the program.
