Despite the uncertainties in today’s reality, SAP.iO’s pledge to help startups bring innovative solutions to SAP customers remains constant. Although we cannot physically be together at this time to conduct our 3-month program in-person at our office in Tel Aviv, we are excited to have launched SAP.iO Foundry Tel Aviv’s Consumer Products program virtually. The shift to a virtual program has challenged our team to develop a schedule that is lean, yet also teeming with valuable content and sessions. Modifying our face-to-face meetings to Zoom calls has given us the opportunity to extend the richness of SAP.iO Foundry Tel Aviv’s offering overseas, with two of our startups joining the cohort from San Diego and Toronto. In addition to the five Israeli startups we selected, we now have the opportunity to work with two amazing companies that we otherwise would have never met, simply due to geography.
In place of the intimate garden rooftop party we had originally planned for our kickoff event, on May 11th we hosted a virtual gathering with over 88 investors, open innovation leaders, various global CPG executives from SAP’s customer base, and SAP and SAP.iO leaders. Although we couldn’t enjoy a glass of wine overlooking a beautiful Tel Aviv sunset together as planned, our startups shared their solutions and impressed the top-notch crowd over Zoom. We even got to “clink” our wine glasses/ coffee mugs virtually with a toast to a successful and enjoyable program.
