PDS Innovation Awards - How to Apply

THE PDS INNOVATION AWARDS 2023 ARE CLOSED

The winner will be announced in November 2023

About the awards

PDS Limited is a leader in enabling the next generation of sustainable and scaleable fashion tech start-ups. Celebrating the ongoing partnership with Common Objective (CO), we are collaborating to bring you: the PDS Innovation Awards. 

PDS Venture Tech, the venture arm of PDS Limited, has already invested in a raft of businesses - from Materra to Good on You, Unspun, and many more. Could you be their next investment? The PDS Innovation Awards are your opportunity to pitch to the PDS investment team, plus benefit from promotion to the 50k+ Common Objective fashion industry base.

For the purpose of these awards, we consider sustainability to encompass positive impact for people, as well as addressing environmental concerns.

How it works

By completing the application form below and creating a CO business profile, you enter the competition to win a chance to pitch in front of the PDS investment team. In this process, the CO team will pre-screen a shortlist of the most innovative and exciting start-ups. Out of these, PDS will select a few that will be invited to pitch. Judging these pitches, PDS will select a winner to be considered for investment or other support from PDS.

All shortlisted applicants will benefit from promotion across the CO platform. All applicants benefit from creating a free business profile on CO, and joining the global industry community dedicated to sustainability best practice. 

Who can apply

For your business to be eligible for the awards, you must:

• Be operating in any aspect of the fashion value chain
• Offer a tech-enabled and scaleable product
• Have achieved product-market fit with a projection to create future revenue streams
• Be a sustainability-driven for-profit business

If you tick all the boxes, apply now.  

What’s in it for you

• Through your free business profile on CO, you will benefit from access to CO's global industry community dedicated to sustainability best practice.
• All applicants will be reviewed by the CO team, who are on the lookout for innovative sustainability solutions to promote to fashion industry buyers. 
• Shortlisted applicants will be reviewed by PDS investment professionals, and gain dedicated promotion across all CO channels and to our 60k industry member base. 
• From the shortlist, a selection of businesses will be given the opportunity to pitch, and the chance to gain investment or other support from PDS Venture Tech. 

Judging criteria

Judges will be looking for the following:

Innovation-led business models

1. Are you leveraging emerging technologies to create environment-friendly products or services?
2. Do you have a unique value proposition that has game-changing advantages over any alternatives?
3. Is your business model commercially viable and economically desirable? 

Scaleability 

1. Do you not only address a need and solve a problem but also seize an opportunity and create a new market or industry?
2. Do you target a large addressable market or the potential to add value through multiple use cases across industries?
3. What is your immediate and longer-term impact on people and the planet?

APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2023 AWARDS ARE CLOSED

Application process

To finish your application, please complete the following 2 steps:

1. Complete the application form
2. Create a business profile on CO (If you don’t have one already)

We can only consider your application if both steps have been completed by the deadline.

The PDS Innovation Hub to find out more, browse businesses that PDS has already invested in and discover previous winners.

With thanks to our partners and supporters: