DOUGLAS honours the winning teams of the start-up competition “BEAUTY FUTURES”

  • Nearly 200 young companies from 23 countries submitted entries in the third edition of the international start-up competition “BEAUTY FUTURES”.
  • A jury of highly respected experts selected the winners in the categories “Beauty Technology”, “Beauty Brand” and “Green Retail” during a hybrid event held at DOUGLAS’ headquarters in Düsseldorf.
  • Tina Müller, the CEO of the DOUGLAS Group, said of the competition: “I am really impressed by the high number of entries and the many different ideas that were presented – I simply can’t believe how many young companies want to change the world of beauty and health. We look forward to working with the start-ups to improve the industry.”

Düsseldorf, 15 November 2021. Three innovative start-ups have won this year’s entrepreneurial competition “BEAUTY FUTURES – The DOUGLAS Innovation Pitch”. The first place in the category “Beauty Technology” was awarded to Dominik Burziwoda (Founder & CEO) and Cäcilie Lotz (Marketing Product Manager) of MillionFriends / Perfood, who contribute to personalised nutritional advice with their patented technology, the analysis of a person’s glycemic response to food, to improve quality of life and well-being.

With her idea “nayca – the warming heart against menstrual pain”, Carina Heidi Hader (founder cebeha2 GmbH & inventor nayca) convinced the prominent jury of experts in the category “Beauty Brand” in the final and left all other candidates behind. As an aerospace engineer, she has developed a super-slim, extra hot and reusable warming heart.

In the category “Green Retail”, Jessi Baker (Founder & CEO) of Provenance convinced the jury the most. The British start-up helps brands turn their influence into brand value: A software solution for sustainability communication. The technology enables brands and retailers to communicate social and environmental impacts in a credible way (e.g. CO2 Footprint, FSC Labels, Charity, Female Owned Business) directly in the online shop.

A total of 196 start-ups from 23 countries entered the third edition of the DOUGLAS entrepreneurial competition. “I am really impressed by the high number of entries and the many different ideas that were presented,” said Tina Müller, the CEO of the DOUGLAS Group. “The start-up challenge is a project that is really dear to me, and I simply can’t believe how many young companies want to change the world of beauty and health. We look forward to working with the start-ups to improve the industry.”

The start-ups competed in three categories: Firstly, “Beauty Brand”, which focused on skin care, make-up, fragrance, nutritional supplements and hair care. Secondly, “Beauty Technology”, which was aimed at start-ups that are using data management, artificial intelligence or augmented reality to develop new solutions that can be applied in retail stores, online shops, apps or social media and lastly, “Green Retail”: a new category in which competitors presented ideas for improving sustainability in retail with beauty products.

A victory in one of the categories brings the winners one step closer to a potential breakthrough: DOUGLAS will help the start-ups to gain greater visibility and will enable them to profit from the marketing and sales opportunities offered by the DOUGLAS Group. The winner in the category “Beauty Brand” will have the chance to sell their product on the international DOUGLAS beauty and health platform. The winning ideas in the categories “Beauty Technology” and “Green Retail” can be put to work in the company’s e-commerce architecture, online shop or stores following exhaustive testing.

“In selecting the winners, we focused first on the degree of innovation used in the entries,” said Christian Miele, the President of the German Start-ups Association. “Naturally, the passion of the team and the story behind the idea were critical as well.”

The winners were chosen in a multi-phase process: First, the jury reviewed the entries and compiled a long list of prospective winners. DOUGLAS employees then helped to select the finalists in an online vote. A short list was then composed, and the jury selected the winners of the three categories during the finals held on 12 November at DOUGLAS’ headquarters in Düsseldorf.

The members of the jury included Lea-Sophie Cramer (entrepreneur and investor), Beate Fastrich (business angel and investor), Solveig Gode (business journalist and podcast hostess of “Business Insider”), Professor Dr Miriam Meckel (publisher, CEO and co-founder of ada), Christian Miele (the President of the German Start-ups Association and a partner at Headline) and Verena Pausder (entrepreneur and author of “Das neue Land” or “The New Country”). Four members of the DOUGLAS management team were on the jury as well: Vanessa Stützle (CDO of the DOUGLAS Group), Susanne Cornelius (CMO & Executive Vice President of DOUGLAS Own Brands), Isabell Hendrichs (Executive Vice President of Assortment & Purchasing) and Tina Müller (CEO of the DOUGLAS Group).

About the winners:

  • Beauty Technology: Dominik Burziwoda(Founder & CEO) and Cäcilie Lotz (Marketing Product Manager) of MillionFriends / Perfood (www.millionfriends.de / www.perfood.de)
  • Beauty Brand: Carina Heidi Hader (Founder cebeha2 GmbH & Inventor nayca) and Bruno Klaus Hader (Entrepreneur) of cebeha2 GmbH | nayca (nayca.de)
  • Green Retail: Jessi Baker(Founder & CEO) of Provenance (provenance.org)

Further information: www.douglasbeautyfutures.com

 

ABOUT DOUGLAS:

Douglas is the leading premium beauty platform in Europe. Offering more than 130,000 beauty and lifestyle products in online shops, the beauty marketplace and over 2,000 stores, Douglas inspires customers to live their own kind of beauty by a previously unparalleled assortment. In 2021, Douglas achieved the Diversity Certification of the initiative BeyondGenderAgenda and represents diversity, equal opportunity and inclusion internally and externally. The continued expansion of the fast-growing e-commerce business is the focus of the #FORWARDBEAUTYDigitalFirst. strategy programme. In fiscal year 2019/2020, Douglas generated sales of 3.2 billion euros in the areas of perfumery, decorative cosmetics, skin and hair care as well as nutritional supplements and accessories.

 

PRESS CONTACT:

Lena Wanders

Corporate PR & Social Media Officer

Telephone: +49 211 16847 6644

E-Mail: pr@douglas.de