Ben
MysteryVibe, a company that makes the Crescendo adaptable adaptable sex toy, has been nominated in the Best Hardware Startup category for the Europas tech awards in London next month.
The device is trying to bring the use of sex toys into the mainstream by staying far away from anything remotely seedy, and instead are angling it around its uniquely flexible shape. That’s really what stops it from looking like any other ‘smart’ vibrator.
By allowing you to control the shape and vibration of the Crescendo precisely, MysteryVibe is aiming to get anyone who perhaps wouldn’t normally consider using any sort of smart adult device, or regular vibrator, on board.
“Our mission is to empower relationships, conversations and individuals through pleasure.” – Mysteryvibe
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The elegant and smart approach clearly struck a chord – the company raised the initial £40,000 on Born and has subsequently raised around $1.5 million from Fueled and other investors*.
More than potential consumer acceptance, the company’s nomination in the best hardware category, alongside others like the ‘smart bike’ Blaze and Tech Wil Save Us, a hardware and software platform aimed at getting more kids to code and become engineers, signals a move towards a more mainstream acceptance in tech.
Other ‘adult’ areas such as weed startups are becoming accepted by the mainstream VC circuit – and if MysteryVibe could snatch a Best Hardware award at the Europas, it could help pave the way for other (often) struggling sextech startups in search of funding.
As the industry makes gains on one side, it loses on on the other: Comingle, the DIY sextech toy, is officially dead – and to ‘celebrate’ the news the company is throwing it a ‘funeral’ party, according to Creative Loafing.
A patent troll lawsuit from a (now deceased) Texan billionaire nixed that startup, but you really should go and check out the CL article to find out more about the assault on sextech startups.
Not too much pressure on you to win and represent the sextech industry then, MysteryVibe.
Update, June 1 – This article was updated to reflect the fact that MysteryVibe has taken on funding from multiple sources totalling around $1.5m, rather than $2.6m from Fueled alone.
