R/GA and Kinship Announce Female-Founded Companies for Cannes Lions Innovation Exchange

Today, R/GA and Kinship have announced the eight female-founded companies selected for the 2019 R/GA Innovation Exchange with Kinship at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. The program focuses on creating impactful opportunities for founders by connecting them with executives from global brands and agencies attending the festival for the exchange of relevant expertise, capabilities, and networks. The R/GA and Kinship teams will also support the participating entrepreneurs with pitch development support, culminating with a Demo Event on the Cannes Lions Interactive Stage in Palais II (20 June, 10:00 a.m.). 

This year's program focuses on purpose-based companies to catalyse more accessibility, create opportunity, empower communities and to enable solving global and local problems at scale. Purpose and social responsibility as core business drivers are being embraced as a necessity, not an afterthought for companies across different industries.

Representing diverse global markets, these entrepreneurs are building businesses that pledge to push industries forward through purpose-driven business models — representing the worlds of FinTech, sustainability, healthcare, diversity and inclusion, virtual reality, transportation, and more. 

1.     Beam Impact (USA) is an app that empowers users to easily support the causes they care about by visiting retailers they love. 

2.     CLOQ (Brazil) provides low-cost, accessible, and formal nano-credit to the lower-income and unbanked population through mobile. 

3.     Goodr (USA) is a sustainable surplus food management platform that leverages technology to reduce food waste and combat hunger. 

4.     Medixus (Kenya) is a knowledge-sharing platform for African doctors to connect and discuss challenging patient cases together via a secure online app. 

5.     Pet Parent (USA) is a SaaS platform dedicated to facilitating and transacting end-to-end pet adoption, making it easier for both adopters and rescue organisations. 

6.     Praxis Labs (USA) advances diversity and inclusion outcomes through perspective - taking VR-based unconscious bias trainings. 

7.     SheKab (Pakistan) is a subscription-based carpooling service for women and girls that aims to empower women by providing them with safe, affordable, and reliable transportation solutions. 

8.     Wazi Vision (Uganda) provides upcycled, affordable eyewear in Africa.

The program will include leadership and support from Kinship, the newly launched ventures, technology, and business innovation arm of Mars Petcare. “Congratulations and welcome to the participants, whose businesses reflect a passionate sense of purpose,” said Leonid Sudakov, president, Kinship. “We believe in success built on difference and diversity, so are proud to partner on this program to support female founders and contribute to shaping businesses of tomorrow.”

The Innovation Exchange helps founders sharpen their brand identity, focus their business proposition, and more effectively align their products and services to the needs of global brands and markets.