Pluie and Winners of the Chicago Innovation Awards Ring the Nasdaq Stock Market Opening Bell

CHICAGO (August 3, 2023) – Pluie will join fellow winners of the Chicago Innovation Awards, the Chicago region’s foremost annual celebration of innovation, in New York City on Monday, August 7th to ring the Opening Bell of the Nasdaq Stock Market.  The event will emphasize the surge of innovation that is occurring in the Chicago region, and shine a spotlight on the organizations that make up its vibrant economy. Pluie Founder and CEO Addie Gundry and Co-Founder and COO Brittany Hizer will both help ring the bell.

“Chicago Innovation Award winners cut across all industries and represent the best in new product and service development from large companies, startups and non-profits,” said Luke Tanen, President and CEO of Chicago Innovation.  “Their winning innovations are solving a range of unmet needs in the marketplace, and we’re proud to celebrate their successes on a global stage by ringing the Nasdaq Bell.”

About Pluie’s Innovation:

• Pluie is the world’s first and only self-sanitizing diaper changing table for public restrooms
• Patented UV-C light technology known to kill 99.9% of germs including influenza, coronavirus, and E. coli sanitizes activates when the table is closed to sanitize the changing surface in just 60 seconds after each use
• Multi-purpose handles for hanging diaper bags and purses to keep them off the floor
• A more comfortable, plush foam leak-proof changing surface
• Retractable safety strap that stores in a clean zone when not in use

Learn more about how Pluie works at www.hellopluie.com.

“As a female founder, I couldn’t be more honored or proud to be a Chicago Innovation Award winner and stand alongside these other visionary entrepreneurs working to make the world a better place,” says Gundry. “When I founded Pluie, my vision was to make a cleaner, safer, healthier alternative for parents and caregivers to change their baby’s diapers while on the go, and I’m grateful to Chicago Innovation and our public facilities in 26 states across the country for seeing the critical need for this innovation to protect our most vulnerable.”

Pluie is committed to Changing the Table™ by making sure all parents and caregivers on the go have access to a clean, comfortable, and convenient place to change their baby’s diaper in all 4 million public restrooms in the United States.

Joining Pluie will be other winners of the 2022 Chicago Innovation Awards.  The full list of 2022 winners includes Crushers Club, Current, Discovery Partners Institute, Joe & Bella, Hope Chicago, Lincoln Park Zoo, Ladder Up, Let’s Talk Womxn, Level Ex, Male Mogul Initiative, Milwaukee Tool, Ocient, PatientIQ, Pluie, QualSights, QuillBot, Reuso, Thierer Family Foundation and the Greater Chicago Food Depository, Valqari, and WasteNot Compost.

About Pluie

Established in 2020, Pluie is modernizing the outdated public restroom changing table experience with the world’s first and only self-sanitizing table, powered by a patented UV-C light system. Pluie is committed to Changing the Table® by making sure all parents and caregivers on the go have a clean, comfortable, and convenient option in every public restroom. Pluie is proudly female-founded, WBENC certified, and operated by CEO Addie Gundry and Co-Founder and COO Brittany Hizer. Pluie is made in the USA, headquartered in Chicago, and was named to Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas list and TIME Magazine Best Inventions of 2021. Pluie was named one of the winners of the 21st annual Chicago Innovation Awards in 2022 and was featured on an episode of ABC’s Shark Tank in 2023.
For more information, visit www.hellopluie.com and follow @hello_pluie.

About Chicago Innovation

Chicago Innovation, established in 2002, has grown from a single awards ceremony to a year-round series of events and programs to educate, connect and celebrate all innovators in the Chicago region.  Chicago Innovation’s vision is to ensure that innovation is for everyone by energizing a community that makes an impact.  In addition to running the annual Chicago Innovation Awards to highlight the most innovative new products and services in the Chicago region, the organization’s expansion has included:

• The Women Mentoring Co-op – where women innovative, connect and grow
• The Illinois Student Invention Convention – inspiring innovation and creative problem-solving in Illinois’ K-8^th grade students
• Ageless Innovators – an intergenerational co-mentoring program
• The Ladder – mentorship, community and career acceleration for Black and Latine innovators

For more information, visit http://www.chicagoinnovation.com.