Unilever, an Anglo-Dutch-listed consumer goods company, has set up a forum for marketing-focused startups to work with its established brands and potentially receive investment from its corporate venturing unit after a successful pilot in March.
The Unilever Foundry will provide startups and entrepreneurs the opportunity to develop and work on global projects with the company’s brands, access mentoring from marketing professionals over a three-month period, and tap into funding through Unilever Ventures.
One of the investment focus areas for Unilever Ventures is digital marketing and it has already made several investments in this space, including Brain Juicer, Yummly and Brandtone.
“Through The Unilever Foundry, we hope to make more startups aware of this opportunity to receive investment from the world’s second largest advertiser,” said Olivier Garel, head of Unilever Ventures.
“In combining our business and marketing knowledge with the expertise available in venture capital through The Unilever Foundry, we are in a position to provide the best of both worlds.”
Unilever trialled its GoGlobal initiative in March to connect seven Unilever billion-euro brands with seven technology companies. Each third party received $100,000 and the chance to pilot their technology with Unilever.
Keith Weed, chief marketing and communications officer for Unilever, said: “Although we have been working with startups for years, we now want to scale up our efforts and, ultimately, embed this as a way of working throughout our organisation.”