Calling All Entrepreneurs: P&G Ventures Returns To CES With Latest Innovation Challenge

CINCINNATI, Oct. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- P&G Ventures, the early-stage startup studio within Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG), announced today the call for entries for its next Innovation Challenge. Entrepreneurs, inventors, and startups who have a technology-enabled fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) product that improves consumers' lives will be eligible to submit to the Innovation Challenge until November 22, 2021. Those who enter have the chance to be one of three finalists who will travel to Las Vegas pitch their idea in person to a panel of expert judges in Eureka Park during CES 2022, the most influential tech event of the year. One winner will receive $10,000 and the opportunity to partner with P&G Ventures to continue developing their product.

The panel of expert judges will 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; and Sarah Anderson, Founding Partner, Vault Fund. The finals will be open to CES registered attendees and will take place starting at 9am (PT) on January 6, 2022 in CES's Eureka Park, the home for start-up companies with breakthrough innovations. New this year, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) will drive additional visibility for the Innovation Challenge through promotion on the organization's communication platforms reaching members, exhibitors and attendees.

P&G Ventures is particularly interested in FMCG innovations in the spaces of 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.

"The P&G Ventures Innovation Challenge has become a highly anticipated event that celebrates the ingenuity of innovators who are looking to solve consumer problems," said P&G's Guy Persaud. "We are delighted to bring the Innovation Challenge finals back to the floor of CES, the tech industry's signature event, and think it's perfect that the finalists will compete in Eureka Park, home of the most exciting new startups at CES. We are excited to work with CTA to make this year's Innovation Challenge the biggest one yet."

"The products and services that start-ups create are essential to America's innovation economy," said Jean Foster, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications for CTA. "We are pleased to be teaming with P&G Ventures to amplify the Innovation Challenge and to be hosting the finals live from CES 2022."

The finalist pitch event will be held at 9:30 am (PT) on Thursday, January 6. The event will also be live-streamed from CES, and free registration to view the finals online can be found here.

P&G Ventures will be leveraging the KITE SRM platform and operating system to accept submissions at ventureschallenge.com until November 22 from legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia. For more information about how to enter, including contest rules and regulations, please visit: ventureschallenge.com. To stay up-to-date on the Virtual Innovation Challenge timing and news, follow P&G Ventures on LinkedIn and Twitter

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 at 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.

SOURCE P&G Ventures