Enflux (YC W16) Makes Workout Clothes that Double as a Personal Trainer

by Y Combinator3/7/2016

Hiring a personal trainer to monitor every move of your workout for safety and effectiveness is something so expensive that it’s out of reach for most of us. Enflux is a company launching out of our Winter 2016 class that wants to be the always-available personal trainer for everyone.

Enflux makes smart athletic clothing that acts as a fitness coach, measuring the quality of your form, the intensity of your workout, and other
advanced exercise metrics through 3D sensors.

VentureBeat’s Ken Yeung wrote about Enflux in a story published recently:

“Started by Doug Hoang, Mickey Ferri, and Elijah Schuldt, this Y
Combinator-backed startup has developed technology and clothing that
could be akin to a Fitbit, but for your entire body. Its shirts and
pants have at least five separate motion sensors connected together,
tracking your movements and syncing the data with Enflux’s Android app
via Bluetooth. There’s also a built-in oxygen and heart monitor, and the
batteries should last up to a month, depending on how active you are.

The athletic clothing is the latest iteration of Enflux over the past
three years. The company had previously experimented with a strapped
sensor and a live avatar that provided feedback. Eventually it
developed a system of five independent sensors, integrated with each
other by wire.

Enflux began when Hoang was training for triathlons and kept getting
injured at the gym. He turned to Schuldt, an electrical engineer, for
help, and the two began looking at using sensors to analyze Hoang’s
motion.

‘Form is everything for exercise,’ Ferri told VentureBeat. ‘What we
do is analyze the quality of the form, improve workout efficiency, and
reduce injuries.'”

Read the full story on VentureBeat here.

Author

  • Y Combinator

    Y Combinator created a new model for funding early stage startups. Twice a year we invest a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200). The startups move to Silicon