P&G Ventures: Building Brands that Last a Century and Relationships that Last a Lifetime

P&G Ventures is an internal startup studio within P&G that partners with entrepreneurs, startups and inventors to build brands with billion-dollar potential. We strive to do this without the complexity of a typical corporate partnership or the loss of equity that comes with venture capital.

The P&G Ventures team and its growing network of entrepreneurs, are solving consumer problems no one else has solved, creating categories that don’t yet exist, and demonstrating what happens when visionary teams and the world’s largest consumer products company embrace tensions, reject trade-offs, and improve people’s lives.

When we launched P&G Ventures, we asked ourselves:

What is the most important problem we can solve for entrepreneurs?
How can we serve entrepreneurs the way P&G serves its consumers?

We knew that founders face a fairly universal dilemma as they try to scale their businesses. They can get funding from venture capitalists, but then must give up equity. Or, they can develop partnerships with potential acquirers, usually large corporations, but the complexity of those relationships can kill a new venture before it has any chance of scaling.

So, we asked our team:

What if we eliminate the trade-off?
What if we give entrepreneurs an alternative to venture capital that doesn’t bury them in complexity?
What if, instead of fast exits, we look for brands we can build for decades?

The more we kept asking “what if,” the clearer our vision for P&G Ventures became.

Since its founding just five years ago, P&G Ventures has worked with internal teams and external entrepreneurs and partners to launch four new groundbreaking brands—all in categories where P&G isn’t already competing. These new brands include Zevo, a non-toxic insect solution; Bodewell, a plant-based solution for psoriasis, eczema and sensitive skin; Kindra, a line of estrogen-free products for women dealing with symptoms of menopause; and OPTE, an electronic device that camouflages and treats facial skin discoloration such as age spots.

P&G Ventures is Looking for the Next Great Innovation

As entrepreneurs and startups grapple with the effects of COVID-19, P&G Ventures remains committed to equipping them with the resources, expertise and guidance needed to continue developing their ventures. At CES 2019, P&G Ventures debuted the Innovation Challenge as a way to spotlight entrepreneurs who share P&G Ventures’ dedication to developing solutions that will improve how consumers live.

In the spring of 2020, the P&G Ventures Innovation Challenge moved to a virtual format amid the pandemic, providing an opportunity for entrepreneurs to share their innovations even when in-person gatherings weren’t possible. It was here that Sarah Hill’s innovation, Healium, a virtual and augmented reality tool for the self-management of stress, was chosen as the Challenge’s winner.

Sarah recently said, “Winning the P&G Ventures Innovation Challenge has been a game-changer for Healium, allowing us to develop new channel partners and research partnerships, while also informing our product road-map. Since winning the Challenge, Healium has seen multiple wins, including the opportunity to help healthcare workers on the front line of the pandemic.”

P&G Ventures is looking for more great opportunities to find the next great consumer innovation while supporting entrepreneurs, which is why we’ve just launched our latest Virtual Innovation Challenge. The three finalists will have the chance to pitch their idea to a panel of expert judges at CES 2021, and the winner will receive $10,000, the chance to partner with P&G Ventures, mentoring sessions with venture firm M13 and more.

If you are an innovator or entrepreneur with a brand or business that solves consumer problems in categories new to P&G, let’s talk!