High-tech headgear that captures data is helping boxers and their coaches gain a competitive edge.
Invented by IT professional and boxing enthusiast Rojay Chase, Anapact recently received a grant from a Fairfax County program that supports early-stage startups.
When Chase gets an idea, he acts on it. This is what caused him to take up boxing in college, and it’s what led him to start his Alexandria-based company, Anapact.
“The idea is kind of like creating a Fitbit but for boxers and MMA fighters,” Chase said. “So instead of tracking steps and calories, they track the amount of punches, elbows, knees — and all that — to the head and the force behind those strikes.”
Photo courtesy of Anapact
Rojay Chase
Originally from Maryland, Chase attended Virginia Commonwealth University and earned a degree in Information Technology. While he was still in school, he got the LLC for his company and began developing his idea for a wearable technology designed for fighters. He’s dabbled in other IT jobs, but what he enjoys most are the skills he uses to run Anapact: software development and cloud engineering.
The target clients for Anapact are gym owners and coaches who can use the data to help their fighters improve. The headgear can help them detect weaknesses and tweak their training accordingly.
Marcio Guastavino is the owner of Wolfbite Boxing, a boxing gym in Las Vegas, Nevada, who has been training in boxing for about two decades. He’s always looking for ways to learn and improve his art, including testing new training technology. He found Chase’s idea on Kickstarter, and jumped onboard as an Anapact client, providing feedback to improve the headgear. He thinks the technology is remarkably accurate and useful to pinpoint things that a fighter needs to train.
“It's definitely a good tool to have, especially if you're a coach and you want to see your fighter improve,” Guastavino said.
Guastavino isn’t the only one who sees potential in Anapact. The Fairfax Founders Fund is a new grant program from the Department of Economic Initiatives (DEI) at Fairfax County that aims to give a leg up to entrepreneurs in the early stages of launching a business. Anapact was chosen as one of the recipients of this fund in 2023, the first year of the program.
Eta Nahapetian, manager of Innovation Programs and Strategy at the DEI, said the fund is intended for businesses that show potential for high growth. Chase had already participated in the Innovation Commercialization Assistance Program (ICAP), a free state program that provides entrepreneurs with mentors and guidance through the early stages of starting a business. With a prototype developed and positive feedback from customers, Anapact was exactly the kind of company the DEI was looking to support.
“This is the kind of entrepreneur that we're looking for — a really strong founder with a commercially viable product,” Nahapetian said. “And also he really demonstrated to (the selection team) that he has the willingness to listen to advice and the willingness to take advantage of the resources available to him.”
Chase is currently working as a cloud engineer and balancing his entrepreneurial endeavors on the side, but he hopes that the Fairfax Founders Fund grant will help him transition to focusing full-time on Anapact. Meanwhile, Chase continues developing his technology. He’s working to make the app more user-friendly and has developed sensors that can go into boxing gloves to collect even more detailed information.
“I think the most important part of my business is the data that's captured,” Chase said.
You can see a video of how Anapact works and more at thesmartheadgear.com.
