HabitAware Inc. has announced its new Keen2 smart bracelet, an improved version of its original product designed to help people manage body-focused repetitive behaviors, or BFRBs.
The bracelet is now available for pre-order on HabitAware's website; orders are expected to ship in February.
Minneapolis-based HabitAware was founded in 2016 and now has eight employees. It designs bracelets that help people manage BFRBs, like skin picking or nail-biting, by vibrating whenever they do the behavior, increasing their awareness. BFRBs affect one in 20 Americans, HabitAware says.
Related: HabitAware CEO Sameer Kumar was part of Minne Inno's State of Innovation panel.
The Keen2 adds new features not present in the original Keen, including an in-app journal and cloud storage for data recorded by the bracelet. It also introduces more traditional smart bracelet features like step tracking and a watch.
"Where Keen was essentially focused on building awareness of your behaviors... [with] Keen2 we've developed a more holistic solution. It really has become your toolkit," co-founder Aneela Idnani Kumar said.
For an extra fee, the Keen2 also includes habit-reversal training, an evidence-based treatment for BFRBs. The bracelet itself costs $129, while a bundle including three months of habit-reversal training costs $179. Right now, the bracelet is only available on HabitAware's website. However, once the pre-order period has ended Idnani Kumar expects the product will be available through retail sites like Amazon.
HabitAware has received around $1.6 million in grant funding and about $1 million in investor capital, CEO Sameer Kumar told Minne Inno earlier this year, though it mostly aims to fund itself through sales of Keen. It was the winner of the grand prize at the 2018 Minnesota Cup, Minnesota's largest startup competition.
Idnani Kumar founded the firm because of her own 20-year struggle with trichotillomania, or hair pulling. The device has helped her control her behaviors, and she hopes it can do the same for others.
"I'm just really proud of what we're building," she said.
