Check out this hands-free virtual reality blowjob machine

Editor’s note: some links in this story may be NSFW.

Update (October 9): eJaculator passed its Indiegogo fundraising goal of US$48,000 overnight, with 18 days still remaining.

Of course sex sells, but future “transactions” might not always involve a fellow human being. Already valued at US$15 billion in 2014, the global sex toy market is about to go through a high-tech overhaul thanks to mobile connectivity and the re-emergence of virtual reality (VR). While sex toys have historically focused on women, a new device straight out of Shenzhen is hoping to revolutionize masturbation for men.

Guys have thought up a lot of creative ways to get their rocks off beyond, well, their hands. Fleshlight changed the game in the 1990s with an artificial silicone vagina hidden in a flashlight-esque plastic tube. Tenga entered the fold in 2005 with disposable “cups” that were designed to mimic the feeling of oral sex. Both products certainly have their fans (and generate millions of dollars in annual revenue), but they still rely on the user’s hand.

Then came Autoblow 2. The self-proclaimed “robotic oral sex stimulator for men” raised just shy of US$300,000 on Indiegogo – more than 600 percent of its original target. It added an industrial-strength motor to the mix, allowing for hands-free operation.

“[Autoblow 2] is on track to earn US$10 million in revenue this year, and that’s just for a robotic blowjob,” Steven Csanyi, founder of the aptly-named eJaculator, tells Tech in Asia. “We’re adding VR and porn, so our product is overlapping in three proven industries.”

Putting the ‘D’ in domain

Steven, a high school dropout, didn’t always plan on becoming a sextrepreneur. The Canadian native moved to Hong Kong in 2004 and quickly noticed that the local tech sector was largely migrating to Shenzhen. He split for the mainland a year later, setting up a series of wholesale businesses in the country’s gadget graceland.

After seven years in Shenzhen, Steven was feeling burnt out. He moved to the US for a change of pace, where he dabbled in premium web domain sales. He bought “ejaculator.com” on a whim in 2012, unsure what to do with it but confident that it was worth something. His intuition proved correct two years later.

“Out of the blue, this guy called me and offered US$5,000 for the domain,” Steven says. “I turned him down and he offered US$10,000, then US$20,000, then US$50,000. I thought, ‘What in the world could they be working on?’ – and the entrepreneur in me knew there must be at least 10 times that to be made. After looking into it, I came across the huge technological gap in the male sex toy industry.”

The idea for a hands-free sex toy supplemented by VR came to Steven in mid-2014. He assembled a team of six and began prototyping last September. It took roughly seven months to produce a functioning prototype. The startup launched its own Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign last Thursday. eJaculator is currently headquartered in Hong Kong, with all research and development activity taking place in Shenzhen.

“[It’s] still at a relatively early stage, aesthetically speaking,” Steven says. “We didn’t put pictures on Indiegogo yet to avoid confusing customers as far as what they’ll receive versus the different stages of prototypes we’ve gone through. We’re going to make several production-stage test units before we make the final molds and tooling, which we’ll share with Indiegogo backers.”

‘It won’t break your dick off’

eJaculator has three main parts: the masturbation device itself (which is 12 inches tall and 4 inches wide), a custom headset that uses a smartphone as its screen (up to 6 inches – the smartphone, that is), and a wireless remote for navigating the companion app (compatible with iOS, Android, and Windows).

Custom videos

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