At the Fort Worth Stockyards Tuesday at the historic Isis Theater, a new generation showcased 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 Health Sciences Center, Goff Capital and Techstars, concludes a 13-week program that included the founding of 10 startups People come from all over the world and they are developing technologies that they believe will revolutionize the healthcare industry.
“Tonight is a big night for Fort Worth,” said Managing Director Trey Bowles. Due to the global pandemic, we have seen an acceleration in technology development, especially in telemedicine and digital health solutions. Companies through our programs here are world leaders in solving problems and proposing solutions for a world of good health. “
This includes companies like BOOMROOM, founded by Anna Shuford of Charlotte, North Carolina.
“We really started with the idea of COVID. We all hated being on Zoom workouts. We were like, well, this has to get better. So we came to the conclusion, how can we improve the actual live virtual classroom experience ?” Shuford said.
Shuford said her online platform not only helps fitness entrepreneurs stream classes, but also streamlines their businesses in one place.
For Stefan Weiss, a lack of fitness resources while traveling led to the idea of smart resistance bands, which his startup Straffr plans to bring to market.
“It’s gamified and very motivating, so you can have an interactive training experience on the go,” Weiss said. “The real innovation is inside the strap, which means we put a sensor inside this strap . And this unit is just streaming the training data and sending it to our application.”
There, professional coaches and trainers can provide feedback, leading to a more effective training experience, Weiss said.
Both firms are among 10 companies selected from more than 4,500 companies to provide guidance and invest in ideas they believe will lead to a smarter, healthier future, Powers said.
“It gives you so much energy and excitement to push and use these innovations to really help people,” Weiss said.
Next year, Bowles said 10 more startups will be selected to participate in the program.
