dunnhumby Launches Incubation Program to Turn Bold Entrepreneurial Ideas into Scalable Innovation for Brands & Retailers

BENTONVILLE, Ark.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--dunnhumby, the global leader in Customer Data Science, today announced the launch of dunnhumby Incubate, a new incubation program designed to discover and co-develop breakthrough technologies with visionary experts, entrepreneurs, and startup founders from the ground up.

Operated by dunnhumby ventures, the company’s open innovation and venture investing arm, dunnhumby Incubate offers a unique opportunity for early-stage companies working in data science, AI, retail tech, and customer experience to collaborate with dunnhumby’s industry-leading experts and global clients.

The Incubate program simultaneously launches two new channels for identifying co-innovation opportunities:

• Incubate Portal – An external submissions gateway for entrepreneurs to propose bold ideas for partnering and co-developing propositions with dunnhumby; and
• dh Incubate Competition – An internal innovation sourcing gateway that taps into dunnhumby’s own expert talent pool, surfacing and incubating best creative ideas from within.

“We’re looking for founders who are building the future of retail using AI, unique data assets, and emerging technologies.” said Leo Nagdas, Head of dunnhumby ventures. “If you’re an experienced entrepreneur with a great idea which you’d like to accelerate with dunnhumby’s unparalleled retail expertise, resourcing, and go-to-market support – you are the perfect candidate for the Incubate portal.”

While the Incubate portal will be continuously open to all innovators that have a proposition aligned to dunnhumby’s areas of expertise, dunnhumby is dedicating its first cohort of priority co-innovation partnerships to startups addressing increasingly critical needs of CPGs in total marketing mix optimization, AI-driven innovation concept development and testing, automated content creation, and consumer insights for more effective real-time customer segmentations. Additionally, dunnhumby recognizes the ever growing importance of sustainability and health & wellness to the consumer and the global retail supply chain, and welcomes data partners seeking to collaboratively transform our ecosystem in these areas.

Today’s news coincides with dunnhumby venture’s Retail Innovation Forum, a one-day event being held today during Bentonville’s first Retail Innovation Week. More than 250 selected retail and CPG technology leaders will be meeting in person during the event to build a joint vision for the future of retail by participating in innovation showcases, panel discussions, and curated networking sessions.

Applications for the Incubate portal are now open. To learn more or apply, visit https://www.dunnhumby.com/about-us/innovation/

About dunnhumby ventures:

dunnhumby ventures is dunnhumby’s strategic venture capital and ecosystem-led innovation arm with a mandate to partner and invest in early-stage retail technology start-ups that embrace data and artificial intelligence for innovation along the customer's path to purchase. We foster industry collaboration via the Retail Innovation Network, our exclusive ecosystem of senior retail innovation leaders, and seek to align with partners at an early stage to supercharge their ability to take innovation to market by tapping into dunnhumby's retail industry expertise, pioneering data science assets, and global retailer and supplier partner network. Our areas of focus include artificial intelligence (AI), data capture and enrichment, retail media, customer engagement, category management, supply chain, and commerce.

About dunnhumby:

dunnhumby is the global leader in Customer Data Science, empowering businesses everywhere to compete and thrive in the modern data-driven economy. We always put the Customer First. Our mission: to enable businesses to grow and reimagine themselves by becoming advocates and champions for their Customers. With deep heritage and expertise in retail – one of the world’s most competitive markets, with a deluge of multi-dimensional data – dunnhumby today enables businesses all over the world, across industries, to be Customer First.

The dunnhumby Customer Data Science Platform is our unique mix of technology, software, and consulting, enabling businesses to increase revenue and profits by delivering exceptional experiences for their Customers – in-store, offline and online. dunnhumby employs over 2,500 experts in offices throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas working for transformative, iconic brands such as Tesco, Coca-Cola, Meijer, Procter & Gamble and Raley’s.