Eva Longoria announced as judge of The Venture competition

World-renowned actress, businesswoman and philanthropist, Eva Longoria, joins the The Venture - Chivas Regal's search to find and support the most innovative startups from across the world - panel of judges, which includes Alexandre Ricard, Joe Huff (Founder of LSTN Sound Co.) and Sonal Shah (founding Executive Director of the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation).

These four expert judges will be tasked with dividing a portion of Chivas' $1million fund amongst The Venture finalists; inspirational social entrepreneurs who aim to succeed in business while having a positive impact on the lives of others.

Following the continued success of The Eva Longoria Foundation, which helps Latinas build better futures for themselves and their families through education and entrepreneurship, Longoria has a wealth of invaluable expertise and advice to offer The Venture finalists. 

Richard Black, Chivas Regal Global Brand Director

Richard Black, Chivas Regal Global Brand Director, commented: 'We're really excited to be announcing Eva Longoria as a judge for Chivas' The Venture. Following the continued success of The Eva Longoria Foundation, which helps Latinas build better futures for themselves and their families through education and entrepreneurship, Longoria has a wealth of invaluable expertise and advice to offer The Venture finalists. Along with Joe Huff, Sonal Shah and Alexandre Ricard, we feel we have the perfect balance of expert judges to evaluate the finalists of this year's competition. We look forward to seeing how people vote online over the next few weeks and which enterprises capture the imagination of the public.'

Now in its second year, Chivas' The Venture has received over 2,500 applications from scalable and sustainable startups across six continents tackling a range of social and environmental issues : From Julia Römer, the founder of Coolar (Germany), who has developed innovative refrigerators powered by warm water that enable doctors to preserve lifesaving vaccines in off-grid regions; to Jaco Gerrits, the founder of CrashDetech (South Africa) who has created a smartphone app that automatically detects serious car crashes, pinpoints the location, and dispatches the nearest ambulance, supplying paramedics with real-time lifesaving information.

One finalist will represent each of the 27 participating countries in New York in July. Following a series of quarter and semi-final pitches, the grand finalists will have just five minutes to impress the four judges with their pitch in front of a live audience at the Chivas' The Venture Final on July 14^th.