LIONS INNOVATION: FINAL 50 START-UPS CHOSEN AS THE WINNERS OF THE INAUGURAL UNILEVER FOUNDRY 50 REVEALED

Originally published by Cannes Lions

Unilever Foundry and Lions Innovation have announced the final 50 startups chosen as the winners of the inaugural Unilever Foundry 50 – an initiative to find the world’s top 50 marketing technology start-ups that are innovating to help brands better connect, engage and relate with people.

The final Foundry 50 have be chosen by a panel of experts, including Brent Hoberman, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Founders Forum, Rose Lewis, co-founder of startup accelerator Collider, Rob Dembitz, Head of Lions Innovation, Caitlin Ryan, Group Executive Creative Director from Karmarama, Olivier Garel, Head of Unilever Ventures and Marc Mathieu, Senior VP of Global Marketing at Unilever.

The winning companies have been announced as:

Adcash Limited
Adludio
Ahalogy
Chute
Culture Machine
Digital Genius
Discuss.io
function
Graymatics
Knotch
LivingLens
Locomizer
Mattr
Miappi
Mobile Metrix
Motion Portrait
Neurensics
NewAer, Inc.
Novalia
Olapic
Ozonetel Systems Pvt. Ltd.
Pixoneye
Placed
Playmob
Powr of You
Preceptiv
Quill
RainCheck
Real Life Analytics
Realeyes
Reelio, Inc.
Relative Insight
Rock Labs Ltd
ScreenCloud
Seenit
Shareablee
Shopperception
Snaps
SQREEM Technologies
Stashmetrics
SyncSpot
TouchCast
Traction
Tuluntulu
TVadSync
Upworthy
Vidsy
WeDemand!
WIREWAX
ZappiStore
MEET THE START-UPS

Attendees to Lions Innovation have the unique opportunity to meet and ‘speed date’ with the start-ups on the Unilever Foundry Demo Area located in the Lerins Hall from 9.30 each day. Please contact the.foundry@unilever.com to book a speed dating session or drop in between 09.30 and 16.00
“Start-ups are pioneering the future of marketing effectively and sustainably,” said Head of Unilever Foundry, Jeremy Basset. “As the world’s second largest advertiser, we’re in a position to lead the way and supercharge the transformation of the marketing industry, making it more efficient, which will benefit consumers, brands and entrepreneurs alike. As a fellow leader in fostering innovation in the creative space, Lions Innovation is the ideal partner and together we’re pleased to be raising the profile of fifty of the world’s leading marketing technology startups to industry leaders.”

“Lions Innovation is the bridge between start-ups, marketers and the creative community that our industry has been looking for,” said Philip Thomas, CEO of Cannes Lions. “The Festival was created because of the incredible alchemy that happens when innovative tech is partnered with the right brand and the right idea, and Foundry 50 is dedicated to kick-starting those kinds of relationships – ones that we believe will be instrumental to the future of the industry.”

Brent Hoberman agreed, commenting, “This is a unique opportunity for start-ups and scale-ups to get in front of some of the world’s leading and most creative brands. At Founders Forum we are delighted to be partnering with Unilever to unearth and select these startups. I have no doubt that the Foundry 50 at Cannes will result in surprising and disruptive success stories of the future.”

To be chosen for the Global Top 50, the start-ups needed to have met the following criteria:

1. Be innovative and truly disruptive, clearly differentiated from competitors already in the market
2. Be relevant and interesting to the Brand & Marketing industry
3. Incorporation within the last 5 years
4. Raised less than $10 million in equity funding.

Each winning startup will receive a ticket, including accommodation, to the inaugural Lions Innovation taking place on the 25 and 26 June 2015, during the week of The International Festival of Creativity.