Founded and built by athletes, Durham’s Jeani aims to fill a gap in accessible performance technology for people of all exercise levels, according to Co-Founder Ewan Bradley.
While other wearable technology companies, such as Whoop and Oura, track heart rate and sleep, Jeani provides movement intelligence that supports joint and musculoskeletal health and movement longevity. This gives its users insights into their injury risk by way of an app that works through any wrist-worn technology.
Bradley, a decathlete at Duke University who graduated this spring with a Master of Science in Global Health, said the main thesis behind Jeani was to help people stay active longer, despite the challenges that can come with maintaining an active lifestyle.
The platform emerged out of its three co-founders’ lived experiences as high-level athletes. Bradley said he and the other two co-founders, Duke decathletes Michael Bennett and Stuart Blandon, have all experienced injuries—some of which required surgery—in their careers. Unsurprisingly, the same has been true for many of their teammates along the way.
“We observed ex-athletes being really injured,” Bradley said. “We also observe people using wearable technology, and a lot of the time, the wearable tech that people use doesn’t always solve the key piece of the puzzle for injury.”
How Jeani works
Jeani works with wrist-worn inertial sensor data, which captures raw motion and tracks how the user walks or runs by measuring gravitational units. Following just a five-minute walk or jog, the technology can check the user’s gait, hip and ankle symmetry, as well as how mechanical stress is distributed across the body.
Altogether, the information provides the user with key feedback on their progress in joint health and motion, helping them shape their activity level to actually prevent injury or overuse.
Jeani also has an AI function that can provide personalized tips on how to move better based on the data the platform collects over time.
The product has already been tested on roughly 70 elite track athletes, ranging from the Duke University track team to Olympians (and one world champion), according to Bradley. He added that many users have said they appreciate the visualizations the app shows that provide a “new way of presenting this movement data that they’ve not seen before.”
Bradley heavily utilized his background and “amazing” Duke-based mentors in sports medicine to develop the technology. He said that his work in designing accessible sports medicine systems in low-income countries gave him an educated perspective on creating actionable sports technology for a variety of users.
The journey so far
Jeani launched its product in March on the Apple Watch and later expanded to Garmin. The organization’s work thus far earned them a $17,500 thousand cash prize at the 2026 Duke Startup Showcase in April.
Jeani was selected out of 88 applicants as a standout venture, and Bradley marked the moment as a “great achievement” for the company as he and his co-founders prepare to go full-time. Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship described Jeani as a student venture that uses “entrepreneurship to diminish geographic and social boundaries.”
The founders plan to put the money toward marketing, including securing partnerships with several influencers, as well as business expenses such as patents.
They will also be using some of the funding to travel to various running events over the summer. Jeani was present at the recent Garmin Marathon Series in Durham, and the founders plan to attend similar races across the country to share their product.
QUICK BITS
Startup: Jeani
Co-Founders: Ewan Bradley, Stuart Bladon, Michael Bennett
Founded: 2025
Team size: 5
Location: Durham
Website: jeanihealth.com
Funding: Raising pre-seed
“We have this product in our hands now, and it’s just getting it to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible,” Bradley said. “We believe this product has huge value to anybody who wants to be physically active, whether you’re an athlete or whether you’re 80 years old.”
Jeani is currently free to download, though Bradley said the company will soon be charging a $9.99 monthly subscription fee alongside a relaunch of the product on Apple Watch.
Other wearable technology subscriptions, like the aforementioned Whoop and Oura, charge around $149 to $359 per year, or $12 to $32 a month, respectively, and require wearing a technology that does not provide the same services as an Apple or Garmin product.
Those interested can download the Jeani app straight from the site.
