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CES Announces $10 Million Diversity Fund, Revokes Award From Female-Founded Sex Tech Company
CTA Announces $10 Million Fund Commitment to Women, Diverse Founders and Diverse Leadership Teams [ces.tech]
The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) announced today at CES® – the world's largest and most influential tech event – that CTA will invest $10 million in venture firms and funds focused on women, people of color and other underrepresented startups and entrepreneurs.
"To continue to evolve and grow, the tech industry needs more equal access to venture funding," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CTA. "Various research reports indicate diverse teams make better decisions and achieve greater profits. At CTA, this is one more tool we are deploying to help promote diversity in the technology industry."
CES revokes award from female-founded sex tech company [techcrunch.com]
Sex tech has been done at the Consumer Electronics Show. This year, however, seems to be different, with the organization behind CES, the Consumer Technology Association, revoking an innovation award from a company geared toward women's sexual health.
The CTA revoked an innovation award from Lora DiCarlo [loradicarlo.com], the company behind a hands-free device that uses biomimicry and robotics to help women achieve a blended orgasm by simultaneously simulating the G-spot and the clitoris. Called Osé, formerly known as Vela, the device uses micro-robotic technology to mimic the sensation of a human mouth, tongue and fingers in order to produce a blended orgasm for women.
"Vela does not fit into any of our existing product categories and should not have been accepted for the Innovation Awards Program," CTA Senior Manager of Event Communications Sarah Brown said in a statement to TechCrunch. "CTA has communicated this position to Lora DiCarlo. We have apologized to the company for our mistake."
[...] As Lora Haddock, founder and CEO of Lora DiCarlo, notes in an open letter today, CES has recognized products like ones from B.sensory and OhMiBod, which won the Digital Health and Fitness Product category in 2016 [businesswire.com]. CES also allowed [engadget.com] a virtual reality porn company to exhibit at the show in 2017, as well as a sex toy robot for men to exhibit in 2018 [engadget.com].
