CINCINNATI - P&G Ventures, the early-stage startup studio within Procter & Gamble, has announced Lady Patch as the winner of the 2022 Innovation Challenge during the virtual CES event.
Selected from a record number of submissions in the Innovation Challenge history, Lady Patch will be awarded the grand prize of US$10,000 and the opportunity to partner with P&G Ventures to continue developing their product.
Incontinence affects one in every three women around the world, and Lady Patch is helping to provide those affected with a solution to improve their quality of life. It was founded by Cindy Santa Cruz and headquartered in El, Segundo, CA, is the only drug-free feminine patch that prevents bladder leaks and the frequent urge to urinate. Lady Patch began as Santa Cruz's mother's invention as she had been using a prototype for years to find relief. When Santa Cruz became a mother and started dealing with incontinence, she decided to begin reinventing the original prototype her mother had used years before.
For the first time ever in addition to the grand prize winner, the three additional finalists including Cybele Microbiome, Kushae Naturals, and Ryp Labs, were also awarded a $5,000 prize in recognition of their innovative products.
"We are pleased to name Lady Patch as the winner of this year's P&G Ventures Innovation Challenge. We thought this product offered an innovative solution to a problem that affects so many, and we're very excited about the potential positive impact the product could have on the lives of women around the world," said Guy Persaud, President of New Business for Procter & Gamble. "This year's finalists were so outstanding that we wanted to give them special recognition as well. The Innovation Challenge is all about discovering and supporting ideas coming from startups and entrepreneurs across the country, and we are so inspired by all of this year's applicants and their efforts to improve consumers' lives."
"Our company, Lady Patch, is honored to be selected as the winner of the 2022 Innovation Challenge," said Founder Cindy Santa Cruz. "We are delighted to win the grand prize and receive the opportunity to partner with P&G Ventures to continue strategic development of our product and company to help better the lives of women around the world. We are also grateful for the chance to pitch our product ideas alongside these esteemed companies with influential stories and innovative products."
The P&G Ventures Innovation Challenge took place virtually during CES on Thursday, January 6th in the P&G Ventures LifeLab. Lady Patch and the additional three finalists pitched their product ideas to a panel of expert judges including 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.
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. 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 there are 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.
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