Meet the startups and winning squads from the EVolution
co-creation challenge
The Co-Creation Event
Seven startups came together with folks from Essity in Munich, November 2022, to jointly co-create the future of health and hygiene. With an action-focused mindset, squads worked on innovative business models and pilot concepts over the 3-day event.
A jury picked the most promising concepts that will receive funding and resources for launching in-market validation pilots in 2023.
The Winning Concepts
Presenting the winning squads in EVolution 2022!
The Washroom of the Future + Becoming a Woman
The Problem
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Girls are often caught by menstruation without period products away from home
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1 in 5 girls have missed school due to lack of access to period products*
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62% of women had to leave work to get period products*
The Mission
"When girls are empowered to manage their menstruation safely, hygienically, without stigma, they are more likely to succeed." - United Nations
The Pilot
Egal and Tork will assess synergies in giving (young) women wide access to period products at public places and washrooms
*Source: Egal/Essity
The Startups
Meet the seven startups selected to participate in EVolution 2022:
According to Egal Pads, 8 in 10 girls and women have used toilet paper or unhygienic alternatives as they didn’t have access to period products in public washrooms.
With Pads on a roll, the startup provides a solution that can be dispensed in every stall, making vending machines redundant and saving a substantial amount of packaging material.
Glucovibes offers a digital guide to understand how the individual metabolic system works. They call their service a “metabolic GPS”, working through an app and biosensors which tell the user how different foods affect his/her glucose levels.
By tracking these glucose levels, women in particular would better comprehend their energy balance and the influence of hormones.
Supporting young people to grow into adults who are confident and resilient about their bodies, relationships and feelings – that’s the idea behind Love+Body+. The sex-education app has been designed for teens and their families, offering a non-judgmental and fun tool to access accurate information. Adults and children can use the app independently or communicate in-app, in real life or a hybrid – whatever works.
On a mission to “empower millions more women around the world to restore dignity, function and confidence in and about their bodies", Planet MUTU has developed a digital exercise program.
The web app supports at-home, patient-led preventative care and treatment of incontinence and prolapse symptoms. It is certified by the NHS (National Health Service) in the UK.
Period cramps can be a nightmare. To reduce the pain for affected women, Roura has invented the Relief Brief.
This smart underwear soothes period cramps through heat and micro-massage. The user places a thin, flexible heat and massage module into the panties’ front or back pocket and starts the device with the Bluetooth-connected smartphone app.
This startup offers an innovative alternative to toilet paper.
The Sonny portable bidet (they call it a micro-shower) provides an environmentally friendly, hygienic bathroom experience. It needs no installation and substantially reduces the amount of toilet paper required.
“Bladder control with one press of a button,” promises YoniCore, a medical solution for pelvic floor dysfunctions.
The biocompatible silicone device inflates to fit each woman and her unique pelvic floor structure, offering immediate relief of the symptoms. A corresponding app supports the training of the pelvic muscles.
The Pilots
The EVolution co-creation event in Munich was just the start! In 2023, the winning teams jointly launched the pitched pilot concepts in the market with the aim to validate consumer/user relevance and the viability of the underlying business model in-market.
All the pilots were successfully run in the market and completed. Based on the outcomes, startups and Essity jointly decided on next steps for long-term partnerships and potential future collaborations. Stay tuned for more updates on the pilots here at Essity Ventures.
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