The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, the New York Dairy Promotion Order (DPO) Advisory Board, and VentureFuel announced this year’s MilkLaunch startup competition. The program focuses on accelerating product innovation for dairy products in New York State with a new theme of products targeting Generation Z consumers (10 – 23 years old), with a focus on sustainability. The competition will be run by VentureFuel, the leading innovation consultancy that builds accelerators and custom programs to futurize industries and corporations.
MilkLaunch will encourage entrepreneurs, startups, or existing companies to introduce exciting new dairy products including any type of product across cheese, yogurt, liquid milk, ice cream, butter, as well as makeup, clothing, etc., that specifically target Gen-Z consumers, a group that is growing in size and purchasing power. The competition offers over $200,000 in awards, including $10,000 stipends for up to six (6) finalists to perfect their product via lab time, consumer insights, research, and elite mentorship from global experts across the consumer products, retail and dairy industries. The grand prize of $150,000 will be used to accelerate the winner(s) of the competition to get to market and drive dairy sales.
“During our first NY MilkLaunch Program we saw so many innovative products that spoke directly to younger consumers in a contemporary way that really enhanced the excitement around dairy,” said Fred Schonenberg, Founder of VentureFuel. “We also saw many novel ideas focused on sustainability and know that Gen-Z and the New York State Dairy community are both deeply passionate about sustainability, resulting in the perfect combination for this year’s focus.”
“We are thrilled to work with VentureFuel on the MilkLaunch program this year,” said Larry Bailey, Chair of The New York State Dairy Promotion Order Advisory Board. “We as New York Dairy farmers and the DPO are excited by the program’s focus on sustainability and Generation Z to help promote and sell more dairy products to this impactful group of consumers who strive for a better future.”
Manny Lubin, Co-founder of last program’s winner, Slate Milk, shared, “MilkLaunch was a great opportunity for Slate to work with industry experts. It allowed us to learn and get direct feedback from people who have been here before! We’re also still in touch with many of the mentors that were a part of the program. They’ve been super helpful along the way!”