For the Wellness Briefing, Glossy sat down with Miranda Nover, a former Tesla engineer-turned-fitness-wearable founder, to learn about Fort, her new female-focused wrist wearable that tracks strength training and is now available for pre-order. Additionally, wellness brands flood the body temperature regulation category, fitness app Future dumps its AI trainer offering in favor of human coaches, and AI startup Midjourney enters the body scanner market.
Is the strength-training wearable market ready to break wide open?
Based on the sheer influx of niche health and fitness wearables hitting the market today, it may seem that there’s very little white space left.
In just the past few weeks, Glossy has monitored many new launches, including a sun exposure tracker by The90 called Gem and a wrist tracker from Amazfit called Helio Strap Pro made to track Hydrox workouts. Earlier this week, a continuous hormone monitoring wearable called Clair announced an $11.6 million raise. Meanwhile, a smart menstrual cup wearable named Emm recently announced $9 million in funding, while Entropy, a brain-wave-reading wearable, took on $54 million in pre-launch funding.
Consumer spending on longevity and wellness could reach $8 trillion by 2030, according to data from investment banking company USB. This includes wellness products, diagnostics and supplements, but the category’s growth leaders include wearable tracking technology and strength training equipment, according to the firm.
But do consumers want to “stack” their wearables like they “stack” their supplements? At least one founder says no.
“I am very contrarian in that I don’t think novel sensing and novel sensor technology, and tracking something really niche and really different, is the path forward for creating a generational company [or] a venture-scale business in this space,” Miranda Nover, a former Tesla engineer-turned-founder of Fort, told Glossy.
Nover thinks consumers, especially women, need simplicity and convenience from their wearable of choice, not a bouquet of tools to choose from each morning.
“The idea that we can commercialize new types of sensors for consumers is great, [and] I’m happy that there are a ton of people building in the space,” Nover said. “But I think the bigger opportunity for our company is to serve this new audience of consumers who have recently become aware of longevity [as a concept] but don’t know how to apply it in their lives.”
Fort emerged from stealth last year as a new female-focused wrist tracker made for tracking and analyzing three popular, yet underserved, areas: strength training, pilates, and high-intensity interval training workouts and classes.
When Nover first set off on her entrepreneurial journey in 2024, she thought the white space in hardware was novel sensors, but she soon pivoted after creating “something you might use if you were in physical therapy, but you certainly wouldn’t wear these types of cumbersome devices to the gym,” she said.
“We found that the bigger opportunity was to [use data to] actually help normal people get stronger … [and] present information in a useful way to a less technical consumer,” she said. “I would love to see Fort become the default tracker for people who live active, but not obsessive, lives.”
That means Fort offers guidance and observations instead of scores. “I think a lot of the tools [available today] are designed to keep you locked in with scores,” she said. “Something we’re excited about with the advent of AI is being able to provide a narrative-driven summary of one’s health that tells a digestible, compelling story without making you feel graded.”
Fort uses motion-sensing technology to count reps, determine muscle fatigue, and track heart rate and body temperature, among other capabilities. It also tracks stress, sleep and other common metrics. Fort then advises the user on routines, consistency and goals, for example.
Nover and her co-founders, Paul Schneider and Zac Valles, come from Tesla and SpaceX, where they served as product designer, senior system integration engineer and senior engineer, respectively.
The company has taken on undisclosed seed funding from Y Combinator and Patron and recently opened pre-sale for the first generation of Fort for $289, a discount from the launch price of just under $400 for the wearable and 1-year app subscription.
In a world where this business could evolve down many different paths, Nover hopes to be a leader in the hardware space. Fort is made from sapphire, stainless steel and ceramic. It has no screen and is made to be worn like jewelry. “The app is certainly paramount, and it’s something that we’re investing a lot in, but we’ve also designed the hardware to be best in class, independent of what happens in the software market,” she said.
News to know:
- Body temperature regulation has become a burgeoning new wellness category as we enter the summer season. Earlier this month, Therabody launched its CryoTherm Palm, a $399 device that cools the user’s core body temperature through the palms to boost athletic performance and reduce heat-induced fatigue. Last month, skin-care brand Rael launched $4.99 cooling hydrogel face masks, while Dr. Jart released a cryo-inspired Cryo Rubber face mask kit in January for $16. Meanwhile, Shark Ninja launched a $150 personal fan, called the Chill Pill, in March.
- The elective full-body MRI and body composition scan markets have new competition. Midjourney, a San Francisco-based AI startup known for its AI image-creation platform, unveiled a sharp right turn in its business model last week with the announcement of Midjourney Medical. The new division’s first launch is a full-body scanner called the Midjourney Scanner, which uses an underwater ultrasound said to map body composition in under 60 seconds. It now competes with Function Health-owned Ezra, Prenuvo and Neko Health. Meanwhile, Australian company Everlabs raised $45 million in Series A funding last week to scale its preventative health scanner globally.
- It was a big week for brands expanding into fitness apparel. Bala, the Los Angeles-based equipment brand known for its design-forward free weights and ankle weights, launched a collection of sweats, biker shorts, bras and other styles sold DTC and priced between $69 and $109. Meanwhile, the French luxury line Balenciaga launched its TechWear collection of workout clothing under creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli. The collection, called “body and being,” includes leggings, windbreakers, tracksuits and more that start around $750 per piece.
- Not every new company is racing toward AI integration. Future, the fitness app that merged with Tom Brady’s fandom-focused Autograph in 2025, has quietly rolled back the AI-powered online fitness coaching offerings it launched in February, according to ATN News. Future has not publicly addressed the business model shift.
Stat of the week:
SPF demand is becoming less dependent on sunshine and weather patterns, and more closely linked to preventative skin-care habits, wellness culture and awareness of the cumulative effects of daily UV exposure, even during colder or cloudier months, according to a new report from market research company Circana. Sunscreen sales are up 6% over the past year, according to the firm, with sales reaching $2.7 billion in the U.S. The average SPF product is priced above $13 today, while the average consumer spends more than $44 annually on sun protection products.
In the headlines:
Talent agencies are training creators to act like retailers [Modern Retail]. Playlist adds Palantir CFO to board, fueling future IPO talks [ATN]. Your cells have a built-in cleanup crew. Here’s how to activate them [SuperAge]. Could a shot of pickle juice lower your cortisol? [Vogue]. When everything’s wellness, how do brands compete? [Beauty Independent]. L’Oréal commits an additional 20 million euros to climate emergency fund over next four years [WWD]. Why nervous system regulation has become wellness’s latest obsession [Forbes].
Listen in:
Revlon is betting big on fragrance as part of its highly anticipated comeback plan. In today’s episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast, host Lexy Lebsack sits down with Amber Garrison, former ELC exec-turned-Revlon president of fragrance and Elizabeth Arden, to unpack the road ahead, which is paved with celebrity fragrance deals, the rebranding of heritage scents, fashion and lifestyle licenses, and expansion into new formats.
Need a Glossy recap?
Meet the company making Erling Haaland’s hair ties. True Religion is using high-volume, profitable physical retail to reach its $1 billion revenue goal. Polite Society is leveraging Ulta Beauty’s new TikTok Shop for its largest-ever affiliate campaign. Vaseline is turning 2008 beauty hacks into TikTok Shop sellouts. Knix embarks on its biggest wholesale expansion, opening in 350 Target stores. Beauty brands are driving growth through ad-supported streaming.
