Cincinnati-based P&G Ventures, Procter & Gamble’s (NYSE:PG) internal early-stage startup studio, is returning to the tech world’s biggest stage in 2022 with its annual innovation challenge.
P&G Ventures is now accepting entries for its CES innovation challenge, scheduled for Jan. 6 in Las Vegas. CES is considered the world’s largest and most influential tech event.
The deadline to apply is Nov. 22.
P&G Ventures is looking for entrepreneurs, inventors and startups with a tech-enabled, fast-moving consumer goods product to apply. Those who enter have the chance to be one of three finalists who will travel to Las Vegas pitch their idea in person.
One winner will receive $10,000 and the opportunity to partner with P&G Ventures to continue developing their product.
A panel of judges has also been announced. They include:
- Victor Aguilar, chief R&D and innovation officer for P&G
- Guy Persaud, president of new business for P&G
- Saeed Amidi, founder and CEO of Plug and Play Tech Center, a Silicon Valley venture fund, innovation platform, startup accelerator and corporate innovation consultancy
- EY's Lee Henderson
- Sarah Anderson, founding partner of Colorado’s Vault Fund, and former Cintrifuse managing director
“The P&G Ventures innovation challenge has become a highly anticipated event,” Persaud said in a release. “We are delighted to bring the innovation challenge finals back to the floor of CES.”
P&G Ventures is particularly interested in innovations in spaces like non-toxic home and garden, men’s and women’s active aging, healthy skin, food preservation and waste reduction, daily wellness, go-anywhere clean, helping parents and other new frontiers — areas outside P&G’s typical wheelhouse. P&G is the creator and manufacturer of consumer brands like Always, Bounty, Dawn, Pampers and Tide.
P&G Ventures, to date, has launched four new brands: Zevo, a line of insect control products; Opte, a smart beauty device to treat facial hyperpigmentation; Bodewell, a line of plant-based products to treat chronic skin conditions; and Kindra, a product line to help women combat the symptoms of menopause.
The finalist pitch event will be held at 9:30 a.m. PT Jan. 6. The event will be live-streamed from CES.
New this year, P&G Ventures is teaming up with the Consumer Technology Association, a trade group, to drive additional visibility for the Innovation Challenge. P&G Ventures will also be leveraging San Francisco’s Kite to accept submissions.
For more information about how to enter, including contest rules and regulations, visit ventureschallenge.com.
P&G Ventures was founded in 2015 as P&G searches for its next billion-dollar brand. The first innovation challenge was held in January 2019 at CES, an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association.
Morari Medical, a Minnesota-based company developing an external medical device for the treatment of premature ejaculation, was the inaugural winner. The company said it's “aggressively” moving to deliver a wearable patch by the end of 2021.
Sana Health, a Colorado-based company developing a wearable device to treat chronic pain, took home top prize in 2020. And SAVRpack, a San Juan Capistrano, Calif., startup that has developed a patented food packaging technology that keeps food fresh, won the 2021 CES innovation challenge earlier this year. SAVRpak is now available in thousands of restaurants through a partnership with Sysco.
