Creative artist, tech entrepreneur and innovator will.i.am is joining the panel of judges for the Chivas Venture Startup Competition that awards $1 million each year to the world’s most promising social startups. The seven-time Grammy Award® winner is participating in the Chivas Venture Global Final, hosted at Europe’s leading tech festival – TNW Conference -in Amsterdam on May 24, 2018.
will.i.am draws upon his experience in business and technology to help decide how the prize fund will be split between the five grand finalists. His background includes being the founder of I.AM.PLUS, a business which focuses on Artificial Intelligence for enterprise and smarter consumer products and an angel Foundation that inspires young people to learn STEAM skills.
The competition is entering its fourth year, receiving over 8,000 applications from entrepreneurs around the world who have creative solutions to important global issues. 27 selected startups will vie to make the finals through a series of quarter and semi-final pitches to pitch for a share of Chivas’ $1m fund at the Chivas Venture Global Final. The five grand finalists will be given just five minutes to impress the judging panel and a 3,000-strong audience of techies, investors, and entrepreneurs.
Public participation will decide how the first $200,000 will be split among the finalists, while the remaining $800,000 will be decided upon in Amsterdam. The public may vote up until April 25th for their favorite social startup by casting a vote via the Chivas Venture website at http://www.chivas.com/en/the-venture/finalists.
The competition judges are: Alexandre Ricard, Chairman and CEO of Pernod Ricard – parent company of Chivas Regal; Sheila Herrling, Senior Fellow at The Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation; and Kresse Wesling MBE, Co-Founder and Director of sustainable luxury brand Elvis & Kresse.
