Through its PepsiCo10 program, multinational beverage and snack maker PepsiCo will offer £10,000, approximately $16,000, along with consulting services from leading specialists in the company and its partners to ten digital technology startups in 2011.
Launched in the US in 2010, the PepsiCo10 angel investment program has been extended this year to cover Europe and Russia.
PepsiCo10 aims at helping companies whose technologies could be used to promote the PepsiCo brands. The program, which takes the form of a contest, focuses on social media marketing, mobile marketing including products for handsets, smartphones and tablets, digital technologies for points of sale, digital and online video, and gaming and educational platforms.
To qualify, the startup company must already have a product “ready for launch, already launched, or in test phase” and must be two years old or younger. Interested companies have been encouraged to submit an application online by July 15, 2011. The winners will be announced on September 19.
Last year during the US contest PepsiCo10 received over 400 applications. Among the winners were the developers of BreakOut Band, a website that allows users to do things like record their own compositions, exchange media with friends, and win fans. Other winners included Evil Genius Designs, the developers of a game called PepsiCo Super Shopper The game is played through a motion sensor camera that captures player body orientations as he directs a shopper in a race to pick up various PepsiCo products. PepsiCo Super Shopper can be played with friends.
PepsiCo has acquired a number of major Russian brands, including Akva Minerala, dairy product brand Domik v Derevne and a range of juice labels such as Fruktovy Sad, J-7, and Ya, which PepsiCo develops on the local market in addition to its international brands.
Sources: PepsiCo, RIA Novosti
