Vibease Redesigns Vibrator as Wearable Tech, Now Seeking Crowdfunding
It’s been a long journey for Vibease, the Singa-US startup that puts the ‘hard’ into hardware. First seen as one of the competitors at our Startup Asia Singapore event in early 2012, now the company is taking its concept for a Bluetooth-connected vibrator and accompanying app onto IndieGogo in search of crowdfunding. Last year we saw that the stimulating smartphone-controlled vibrator looked like a rabbit, but the startup team has come up with a sleek, new pink design that they’re calling “wearable” because it can be slipped into a lady’s underwear so that it can vibrate and stimulate the wearer hands-free. Vibease co-founder Dema Tio explains that “because of the tip design, it will stay in place”. This “smart vibrator” is controlled through the Vibease Fantasy app that includes a store for visual erotic stories (no, not porn) that work in sync with the vibrator. Dema tells us:
We create an immersive experience for women to have a new level of intense pleasure. Imagine a user listens to a fantasy like ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ and the vibrator vibrates in sync with the fantasy. When the story says “I’m touching you softly”, it vibrates softly and when the story says “I’m touching you hard”, it vibrates hard. It feels almost like a real experience. Studies show that hearing, mood, and fantasies play a big part in female pleasure experience.
The vibrator will be $79.99 when it begins shipping in October this year, but early backers on Indiegogo can get it for $69.99. Hacking a new design
Regular readers will notice that not only has the hardware changed, but the Vibease app has been simplified as well. In its first concept, the whole thing was designed as a way for couples in a long-distance relationship - or these temporarily separated by miles - to experience the ‘fantasy’ content together, with communication done through the app. For now, Dema says, that’s been removed so that the startup can focus on shipping this finalized vibrator design this year. From January to May of this year, the Vibease team went through the Haxlr8r incubator in China, which is aimed at hardware startups. Dema says, “It’s the best place to do a hardware startup. We should go there earlier!” Haxlr8r helped the Vibease team to hack together the new design, and the startup is now finally on course to ship its product in October with backup from one of the biggest sex toys manufacturers in China. In related news, Vibease has a new co-founder and spokesperson in the form of Hermione Way, one of the stars of Bravo’s reality TV show Start-Ups: Silicon Valley. Take a look at Vibease’s Indiegogo campaign here, and check out this totally SFW introductory video presented by Hermione:
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