CINCINNATI, Dec. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- P&G
Ventures, the early-stage startup studio within Procter &
Gamble (NYSE:PG), announced today the top four finalists of this
year's Innovation Challenge. Finalists will present their
groundbreaking product ideas to a panel of expert judges at
CES in January 2022 for the
chance to win $10,000 and the
opportunity to work with P&G Ventures to continue developing
their product.
The finalists are:
- Cybele Microbiome, headquartered in San Diego, CA, provides high efficacy
natural solutions for human health through patented technologies.
Nicole Scott, Co-Founder and CEO,
will pitch.
- Kushae Naturals, based in Lake Work, FL, is an all-natural, pH
balanced, doctor-formulated feminine hygiene product line made by
women for women. Co-Founder and CEO, Kimba Williams, will pitch.
- Lady Patch, operating out of
El Segundo, CA, is the only
drug-free feminine patch that prevents bladder leaks and the
frequent urge to urinate. CEO and Founder, Cindy Santa Cruz, will pitch.
- Ryp Labs, located in Kirkland,
WA, is an award-winning food and crop protection company
developing and commercializing biomimicry solutions to combat
global food waste, naturally and safely. Moody Soliman, Co-Founder
and CEO, will pitch.
The finalist pitch event will be held at 9:30am (PT) on Thursday, January 6 at CES in
Eureka Park, the space for startup exhibitors. The event will be
open to all CES attendees and will also be live-streamed. Free
registration to view the finals online can be found here.
Entrepreneurs, inventors, and startups in the fast-moving
consumer goods space were invited to submit to the Innovation
Challenge. Of particular interest were innovations in non-toxic
home and garden, active aging, healthy skin, helping parents,
go-anywhere clean, daily wellness, and food waste reduction.
Submissions for this year's Innovation Challenge reached record
numbers, as did the percentage of submissions with a female founder
(60%), and the number of submissions from Black and Latinx founders
(30%).
The panel of expert judges include Victor Aguilar, Chief R&D and Innovation
Officer for P&G; Guy Persaud,
President of New Business, P&G; Saeed
Amidi, Founder and CEO, Plug and Play Tech Center;
Sarah Anderson, Founding Partner,
Vault Fund; and Lee Henderson,
Americas EY Private Leader and Executive Sponsor, EY Entrepreneurs
Access Network.
"The P&G Ventures Innovation Challenge provides a fantastic
opportunity for us to connect with entrepreneurs and startups who
could partner with us to build new brands and businesses that
improve consumers' lives," said Guy
Persaud, President of New Business for Procter & Gamble.
"We are inspired by the enthusiastic response to this year's
Challenge. We congratulate our finalists and can't wait to see them
pitch live at CES, the most influential tech event of the
year."
Past Innovation Challenge winners include Sana Health, a
wearable device using audio and visual stimulation to relieve
chronic pain and reduce anxiety levels; SAVRpack, a patented
packaging technology to keep food from going soggy; Healium, a
mental fitness channel that uses augmented and virtual reality Apps
for the self-management of stress and anxiety; Morari Medical, a
wearable device to prevent premature ejaculation; and Nanospun
Technologies, which produces disruptive, live-active biological
tissues for skincare, medical, and industrial applications.
For more information about the Innovation Challenge, please
visit: ventureschallenge.com. To stay up-to-date on the
Innovation Challenge timing and news, follow P&G Ventures
on LinkedIn and Twitter.
You can learn more about P&G innovations by visiting the
P&G LifeLab booth on the showroom floor of CES (Booth #53504)
or from the comfort of your home through our virtual experience on
PGLifelab.com.
About P&G Ventures
Founded in 2015, P&G
Ventures is an early-stage startup studio within P&G that
creates new fast-moving-consumer goods brands and businesses in new
target categories by partnering internally or externally with
entrepreneurs, inventors, visionaries, founders and
start-ups. Over the past two years P&G Ventures has
delivered a strategy to attract partners through an active scouting
program, earned media placements, speaking and participating at
relevant events, presences within P&G's booth a CES and owned
social accounts (Twitter and LinkedIn). P&G Ventures has
embraced Lean principles and metered funding as it moves projects
through the Discovery, Create, Build, and Scale phases of
development. To date we have four brands (Zevo, Kindra,
Bodewell and OPTE) that have entered Build phase, either internally
within P&G or externally with our partner M13's Launchpad.
About Procter & Gamble
P&G serves consumers
around the world with one of the strongest portfolios of trusted,
quality, leadership brands, including Always®, Ambi Pur®, Ariel®,
Bounty®, Charmin®, Crest®, Dawn®, Downy®, Fairy®, Febreze®, Gain®,
Gillette®, Head & Shoulders®, Lenor®, Olay®, Oral-B®, Pampers®,
Pantene®, SK-II®, Tide®, Vicks®, and Whisper®. The P&G
community includes operations in approximately 70 countries
worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest
news and information about P&G and its brands.
About CES
CES® is the most influential tech event in
the world – the proving ground for breakthrough technologies and
global innovators. This is where the world's biggest brands do
business and meet new partners, and the sharpest innovators hit the
stage. Owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association
(CTA)®, CES features every aspect of the tech sector. CES 2022 will
take place in person in Las Vegas,
and digitally, Jan. 5-8, 2022. Learn
more at CES.tech and follow CES on social.
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SOURCE P&G Ventures