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In Foundries, Funding Announcement

SAP.iO Foundries 2023 Portfolio Acquisitions Roundup

Congratulations to the 17 startups in our portfolio that have successfully exited via acquisition in 2023! These acquisitions not only represent positive outcomes for the startups, but also a validation of their innovative ideas and solutions. We are proud to have been a part of their journey and look forward to their continued success in their next chapters.

 

  • Rephrase was acquired by Adobe on 11/22/2023
  • Tango Eye was acquired by Lenskart on 10/30/2023
  • Manta was acquired by IBM on 10/24/2023
  • eLamp was acquired by 360Learning on 10/9/2023
  • Bewgle was acquired by Acceldata on 9/19/2023
  • Akorda was acquired by LegalSifter on 9/18/2023
  • Magazino was acquired by Jungheinrich on 8/23/2023
  • Dotaki was acquired by AB Tasty on 7/11/2023
  • Ecoplant was acquired by Ingersoll Rand on 6/14/2023
  • Sensire was acquired by Main Capital Partners on 6/7/2023
  • Andjaro was acquired by Silae on 6/6/2023
  • Myagi was acquired by Rallyware on 5/2/2023
  • Qualified was acquired by Andela on 3/9/2023
  • Lemonbeat was acquired by E.ON One on 3/8/2023
  • ESG Enterprise was acquired by apexanalytix on 3/7/2023
  • Springday was acquired by Advanced Personnel Management on 2/7/2023
  • OilX was acquired by Energy Aspects on 2/1/2023
In Blog, Inclusiveness, Featured

Supporting LGBTQ+ Founders and Fostering Inclusion in the Tech & VC Industries

By Max Kahn, Director, SAP.iO

As an out and proud leader at SAP, I couldn’t be more excited to celebrate Pride Month and recognize the inspiring LGBTQ+ individuals who’ve made a significant impact in the world of tech, entrepreneurship, and venture capital. This month, we not only celebrate our community’s resilience and pride, but also reflect on the progress we’ve made and the work that still needs to be done to create a more inclusive and equitable world. In recent years, the world has seen a surge of innovative LGBTQ+ startup founders who’ve broken barriers and paved the way for a new generation of entrepreneurs. Despite these achievements, the world of venture capital continues to be primarily male & pale, with only a small percentage of investments going to startups founded by women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and people of color.

According to a study by StartOut, LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs are less likely to receive funding from investors compared to their non-LGBTQ+ counterparts, despite having comparable or even better performance metrics. This disparity highlights the pressing need for greater representation and support for the LGBTQ+ community in the venture capital space. As corporates, we have a responsibility to do better and foster an inclusive environment that encourages and supports LGBTQ+ employees & founders.

Here are some ways we can contribute:

1. Educate investors and customers about the value of diversity: It’s proven that diverse teams lead to better decision-making and innovation. By educating about the benefits of funding underrepresented founded & led startups, we can continue to shift the narrative and encourage more inclusive investments. For example, companies that embrace pro LGBTQ+ policies outperform those without them in the stock market by more than three percent. In our SAP.iO portfolio, underrepresented startups make up 44% of our portfolio and tie or surpass their counterparts in benchmarks used to measure success including number of exits and likelihood to progress in their partnership with SAP.

2. Embrace inclusive policies & benefits: Encourage your company and portfolio companies to adopt policies and practices that are inclusive and supportive of LGBTQ+ employees. Join SAP by embedding inclusive language into the DNA of your company, offering comprehensive coverage for gender-affirming care, and providing fertility support and family-building benefits for people of all identities. Recognizing pronouns is also essential to creating an inclusive environment for transgender and nonbinary colleagues. I’m proud that employees can easily add their chosen name and personal pronouns to their people profiles in SAP SuccessFactors. In addition to building inclusive companies and ecosystems, lobbying for equality is more important than ever. It’s important to recognize that one-third of the countries worldwide still criminalize homosexuality.

3. Foster collaborations & partnerships: Collaborate with organizations, accelerators, and non-profits that specifically focus on supporting LGBTQ+ founders and funders. Partnerships create a stronger support network for LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs and contribute to their long-term success. In addition, supporting emerging LGBTQ+ VCs increases diversity within the VC community and drives more equitable decisions. Organizations like StartOut, Gaingels, and Out in Tech are fantastic resources for both startups and corporates to get involved with.

This Pride Month let’s celebrate the achievements of our community and continue working together to build a more inclusive and equitable future for all.

In Foundries, Supply Chain Management, Success Stories

5 companies leveraging startup innovation to improve their supply chains

In today’s fast-paced business environment, businesses are turning to startups for innovative solutions to enhance their supply chain operations. By leveraging startups’ agility and creativity, companies can overcome supply chain challenges and gain a competitive edge. 

SAP.iO makes it easy for SAP customers to work with the most innovative and relevant enterprise software startups by helping startups integrate with SAP solutions. Our portfolio has 100+ enterprise-ready startup solutions that are helping customers solve their most important supply chain management challenges.   

In this roundup, we will explore five companies successfully harnessing startup innovation to improve their supply chains. 

 

Shippeo & Fressnapf Group: Improving promotion planning to better serve customers with multimodal visibility 

Fressnapf Group worked with Shippeo’s real-time transportation visibility platform to boost its supply chain visibility, reduce transportation costs, and improve customer service. The collaboration resulted in a more efficient and streamlined supply chain management process for Fressnapf Group. 

Shippeo works with SAP Industry Cloud & SAP Logistics Business Network and is available on the SAP Store. 

 

Inspectorio & Yunus: How Textile Manufacturer Yunus Solved Supply Chain Challenges with Inspectorio  

Textile manufacturer Yunus successfully addressed supply chain challenges by leveraging Inspectorio. Yunus utilized Inspectorio’s inspection and quality management platform to streamline their supply chain operations, enhance communication and collaboration among stakeholders, and improve overall product quality, increasing efficiency and customer satisfaction. 

Inspectorio works with SAP S/4HANA and is available on the SAP Store.  

 

NET2GRID & E.ON: Increased customer engagement through disaggregation 

E.ON, a leading energy company, utilized NET2GRID’s smart control app to provide personalized energy management services to its customers. The app’s data-driven insights and recommendations helped E.ON’s customers better understand and control their energy usage, increasing customer satisfaction and energy efficiency. 

NET2GRID works with SAP Industry Cloud, SAP Extension Suite & SAP Integration Suite and is available on the SAP Store. 

 

Shyftplan & Siemens: Higher employee satisfaction and productivity thanks to automated shift planning  

Siemens Energy worked with Shyftplan’s workforce management software to optimize employee scheduling, shift planning, and time tracking. The partnership lowered administration time and costs and improved workforce planning and employee satisfaction.  

Shyftplan works with SAP SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics & SAP Industry Cloud and is available on the SAP Store.  

 

Geek+ & Decathlon: Europe E-commerce giant sees massive logistics upgrade  

Decathlon’s European e-commerce operations worked with Geek+ automated robots and AI-powered solutions to streamline their warehouse operations, optimize inventory management, and achieve a 300% increase in productivity. This collaboration improved order processing times, reduced operating costs, and enhanced customer satisfaction for Decathlon’s European e-commerce business. 

Geek+ works with SAP Extended Warehouse Management, SAP Extension Suite, SAP Integration Suite & SAP S/4HANA and is available on the SAP Store. 

 

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

In Global, Portfolio News, CRM & Customer Experience

How SAP, Mention Me Enable Puma to Market Through Customer Data

During last month’s NRF Big Show, executives from Puma and Mention Me took to the SAP Theatre stage to discuss marketing strategies in this post-pandemic period. The session, titled, “How Smart Brands Future-Proof Growth through Customer Advocacy,” featured David Witts, senior manager, CRM, Puma, and Darren Loveday, vice president, business development and solutions consulting, Mention Me.

Read the full story in WWD

In Foundries, Blog, Video, Inclusiveness

Censia’s Growth Journey

Meet Censia

What makes Censia tick? Their core value that every person counts.  Founded in 2017 by CEO Joanna Riley, Censia unleashes the power of the people by delivering transformative talent intelligence, helping customers supercharge SAP’s human resources management solutions portfolio with AI-powered resume review, passive sourcing, and candidate evaluation. After achieving a 10x growth in 2020 following a $21M Series A funding round, Censia has been helping the biggest brands optimize recruitment and talent management by transforming executive intelligence, workforce intelligence, and talent acquisition.

Making Data-Driven Talent Decisions

Censia’s partnership journey with SAP began in 2019 when Censia joined SAP.iO Foundry San Francisco’s Future of Work accelerator as a seed-stage company. Looking to leverage the strength of SAP’s network, Censia quickly became an SAP partner with an integrated solution in SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting and a listing on SAP Store. Censia Talent Intelligence was fast to become wildly successful and last year, Censia became an SAP Endorsed Application, a prestigious recognition only received by 1% of SAP store partner solutions. To date, Censia has closed numerous deals with SAP and major brands such as Tapestry Inc., TJ Maxx, and PepsiCo Inc. Today, as Censia rapidly scales, SAP continues to see the major impact their solution has on improving human resource management for SAP SuccessFactors customers.

On Partnering with SAP.iO

Censia CEO Joanna Riley credits her experience working with SAP.iO and the inside knowledge and insights shared as critical in helping to set Censia up for success in working with enterprise. Riley shared that SAP.iO’s input on company presentation was extremely valuable in successful meetings with SAP, SAP customers, and investors, and really felt part of a selective group of entrepreneurs who are the next generation of leaders with an edge.

 

“Entrepreneurship is about continuous learning and to be able to be part of SAP.iO, I feel like I’m cheating. I’m learning from lessons that have been learned through years of experience that SAP has acquired and taking those and applying them to my business so that we have a head start. I would recommend any company especially focused on enterprise to look at SAP.iO as a real solution to build a produce that is great for enterprise.”
– Joanna Riley, CEO, Censia

 

As one of the most successful startups in the SAP.iO portfolio, we look forward to many more joint successes and a fruitful journey together ahead! Learn more about how Censia adds AI-powered talent intelligence to SAP SuccessFactors here.

In Foundries, Awards

SAP.iO Foundries 2022 Portfolio Awards Roundup

Congratulations to the myriad of startups in our portfolio that have been recognized by leading publications for their innovative solutions in 2022!  We are proud to have innovative startups like these in our portfolio and are very proud of their accomplishments. Check out this curated selection of awards from the past year and explore the startup solutions available on the SAP Store:

 

In Foundries

SAP.iO Foundries 2022 Portfolio Acquisitions Roundup

Congratulations to the 19 startups in our portfolio that have successfully exited via acquisition in 2022! These acquisitions not only represent positive outcomes for the startups, but also a validation of their innovative ideas and solutions. We are proud to have been a part of their journey and look forward to their continued success in their next chapters.

 

  • Firstbird was acquired by Radancy
  • Cultivate was acquired by Perceptyx
  • Codecheck was acquired by Testberichte
  • Presize was acquired by Meta
  • Scortex was acquired by TRIGO Group
  • CardUp was acquired by Funding Societies
  • Databand was acquired by IBM
  • SundaySky was acquired by Clearhaven Partners
  • Ecotrek was acquired by EcoVadis
  • Askdata was acquired by SAP
  • ChatBook was acquired by Monex Group
  • Ziggeo was acquired by Kargo
  • Industrial Analytics was acquired by Infineon
  • TeamCore was acquired by Accel-KKR
  • StyleSage was acquired by Centric Software
  • Pico was acquired by Infront
  • Raycatch was acquired by BladeRanger
  • GridX was acquired by E.ON
  • FSIGHT was acquired by Tigo Energy
In SAP Grow

Back-end to the future: Why back-office tech will drive scale-ups to success

A new era of businesses is incoming: unicorns and rising stars. In their current state, they are known as scale-ups. Often defined by annual returns, number of employees or levels of funding, what really unites these, typically tech-focused, businesses is their impressive expansion and promising upwards growth trajectory. The UK alone is home to 33,860 scale-ups, contributing £1 trillion to the UK economy annually.

Read More

In SAP Grow

Learnings from four leaders who exited successfully

IPOs on European stock exchanges rose from 191 in 2020 to 485 in 2021, and 2022 is expected to see even more.

While some argue 2022 may not be the right time to IPO — earlier this month, Dutch file-sharing company WeTransfer cancelled its IPO citing “market conditions” — there are plenty of European companies on the verge of the big exit.

As more startups seek funding and investors look to put their capital to good use, we asked startup leaders, from founders to CFOs, on the most valuable lessons they learned.

Read More

In Foundries, Global

5 Visionary Companies Transforming Their Supply Chains with Startup Innovation

Now more than ever, businesses need to respond effectively to changes in supply, demand, and market conditions – and we’re proud that over 25 SAP.iO startup solutions for supply chain management are integrated with solutions like SAP S/4HANA and are available on SAP Store to help our customers become more agile.

In this round-up, we’re proud to highlight 5 stories featuring visionary companies that are working with startups to transform how they manage their supply chains.

 

Coca-Cola Hellenic & Shippeo: Leveraging real-time transportation visibility for logistics operations

Coca-Cola Hellenic worked with Shippeo to improve functional efficiency and simplify their operations. By leveraging real-time transportation visibility powered by Shippeo, they were able to improve collaboration with carriers to improve service levels, reduce transportation costs and simplify back-office activities.

Shippeo works with SAP Industry Cloud & SAP Logistics Business Network and is available on SAP store.

Anheuser-Busch & Wise Systems: Proactively planning out deliveries and reducing late deliveries by 80%

Anheuser-Busch collaborated with Wise Systems to optimize its delivery network in record time. By replacing manual planning with an app-based delivery routing platform, Anheuser-Busch was able to reduce late deliveries by 80% and reduce their fuel costs by 6% year-over-year.

Wise Systems work with SAP S/4HANA & Industry Cloud and is available on SAP Store.

Danone & Flowlity: Optimization of raw materials and packaging in the food industry

Danone, a world leading food company, worked with Flowity to optimize its stock levels and increase the accuracy of their consumption forecasts. By deploying Flowlity, Danone is now able to dynamically adjust their safety stock and replenishment, resulting in a reduction in shortages and inventory levels.

Flowlity works with SAP ERP & SAP S/4HANA and is available on SAP Store.

Unilever & Scantrust: Farm-to-Fork Traceability with QR codes

Unilever worked with Scantrust to differentiate their products from their competition and validate origin statements by introducing a blockchain-powered traceability solution. By embedding QR codes on their packaging that linked to Scantrust’s gateway containing farm-to-fork details, Unilever was able to develop a new level of trust with their consumers and increase sales for their food and beverage products in Vietnam.

Scantrust works with SAP Logistics Business Network & SAP Industry Cloud and is available on SAP Store.

EnergyAustralia & NET2GRID: Unlocking new revenue streams for EnergyAustralia

EnergyAustralia was looking for a way to analyze energy data in order to empower their customers to take actionable measures to reduce their electricity bills. They worked with NET2GRID to connect smart meter data with a consumer-facing app that resulted in greater customer engagement and increased customer loyalty.

NET2GRID works with SAP Industry Cloud, SAP Extension Suite and SAP Integration Suite and is available on SAP Store.

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

In Fund, Article, Funding Announcement

Jina.ai raises $30M for its neural search platform

Berlin-based Jina.ai, an open-source startup that uses neural search to help its users find information in their unstructured data (including videos and images), today announced that it has raised a $30 million Series A funding round led by Canaan Partners. New investor Mango Capital, as well as existing investors GGV Capital, SAP.iO and Yunqi Partners also participated in this round, which brings the company’s total funding to $39 million to date.

Read More on TechCrunch

In Article, Global, Portfolio News, HR & People Engagement

5 Innovative Companies Transforming Their Employee Experience with Startup Innovation

Since 2017, our team has been scouting and accelerating innovative startups from around the world with the goal of helping the world run at its best. Today, over 30 solutions from startups in our portfolio are integrated with SAP SuccessFactors and are available on SAP Store. These solutions are uniquely positioned to solve some of the most important challenges facing businesses today that will define a new era in the future of work.

Taking charge of change requires a bold vision and we’re deeply inspired by the five stories below that demonstrate the art of the possible when working with startups to put people at the center of how we work.

 

Nestlé & Pulsifi: Finding Top Talent with AI & Predictive Analytics

Nestlé Malaysia & Singapore received a huge number of applicants for their popular Management Trainee Program and faced a lack of data consistency, a long screening process, and unmet requirements. They worked with Pulsifi, a people data platform, to better understand candidates’ behavior with 97% accuracy and improved efficiency in the processing of candidates by over 70%.

Pulsifi works with SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting and is available on SAP Store.

GE Healthcare & Immerse Learning: Transforming Radiography Training Through VR

GE Healthcare was able to increase the quality and number of practical training hours for their radiographer trainees with the help of Immerse Learning. Together, they created a VR environment that helped enable faster training processes and real-time tracking to enable instant review and feedback on performance.

Immerse Learning Limited works with SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central and is available on SAP Store.

ENGIE & Andjaro: Improving operational performance by identifying and redeploying internal talent at scale

ENGIE, the world’s third largest energy company, was struggling with developing a systematic and flexible approach for managing their field technicians and reducing inter-project periods. With the help of Andjaro’s operational performance tool, ENGIE was able to reclassify 94% of its available technicians, reduce their interim costs, and improve inter-agency collaboration.

Andjaro works with SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central and is available on SAP Store.

Stanley Black & Decker & 360 Learning: Improving ROI of Training Programs

Stanley Black & Decker chose 360 Learning to empower and enable trainers to create programs in real time and receive feedback in an easy-to-use platform. By using 360 Learning, their trainers now produce programs in 2 hours compared to a process that would have previously taken several weeks.

360 Learning works with SAP SuccessFactors Learning and is available on SAP Store.

Bentley Systems & Plum: Driving Equitable Talent Decisions Based on Proven Science

Bentley Systems is leveraging Plum’s predictive data-driven platform to capture candidates’ skills to enable better hiring decisions. Plum’s insights are presented in their SAP SuccessFactors Recruitment Dashboard so hiring teams can quickly evaluate external candidates, match them to open roles, and reduce bias in the hiring process.

Plum works with SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting and is available on SAP Store.

Interested in collaborating with a startup in our portfolio? Let us know!

 

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

In Global, Sustainability, Blog

Navigating to Zero with Startup Innovations in Sustainability

The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, is currently being held in Glasgow, Scotland under the co-presidency of the United Kingdom and Italy. The focus of the conference is to work towards securing global net zero by mid-century keeping 1.5 degrees within reach, adapting to protect communities and natural habitats, mobilizing finance, and working together to accelerate an action plan. It is a topic that is of utmost importance and we see action being taken globally across all types of businesses and industries to use innovations to support more sustainable ways to live and do business.

 From consumer to enterprise to federal government action

An economic transformation is underway that can be attributed to new sustainability practices, a call to action that is changing the future of business. Regulatory committees, investors, consumers, and employees increasingly call for more socially, environmentally, and economically responsible goods and services. The market is seeing consumers requesting sustainable products and services through their buying behavior. Evidence to which we can see in the numbers. According to a STERN Center for Sustainability Business report, products marketed as sustainable grew more than five times faster than conventionally marketed products and three times faster than the CPG market. When given choice, today’s consumer is more likely to select the more environmentally responsible option.

Sustainability has become a critical topic for enterprises to reduce emissions and waste, increase circularity, and use socially responsible practices throughout product lifecycles. Simply put, business leaders are listening to the customers’ call to buy sustainable products and are looking to address how to make sustainability profitable. Accenture’s CEO study confirmed that 99% of CEOS from companies with $1+ Billion in annual revenues believe sustainability is important to the future success of their business. When it comes to the workforce, research into workplace priorities of Millennial and Generation Z employees has found they rank sustainability as a leading concern when evaluating the companies they choose for employment. Sustainability matters, from the products you make and how you make them, to the type of talent you can attract can all hinge on your company’s sustainability model.

Even federal governments are stepping in to take action. Recently an alliance of German companies, including SAP, called for more tangible measures for climate protection from the federal government. The companies said in a joint statement that Germany must be put on a “clear, reliable and predictable path to climate neutrality.” Besides SAP, other participants include Allianz Insurance, Eon, Bayer, Adidas, General Electrics, Deutsche Post, and Ikea. With governments requesting action, there is a huge opportunity to engage technologies that optimize carbon emissions, increase operational efficiency by activation of circular business processes, and connect with socially responsible partners to help organizations make better informed decisions.

Among CEOs that see sustainability as a driver in the future is SAP’s own Christian Klein, stating, “Sustainability is no longer optional but has become key to the long-term success of any business. It’s about defining new competitive advantages, lowering risks, building resilience to pricing regulations, gaining ground with investors, and being ahead of emerging consumer demands.” Earlier this year, SAP launched its Chasing Zero movement focused on using the power of technology to create a world of ZERO emissions, ZERO waste, and ZERO inequality. In support of SAP’s initiative and in response to new sustainability requirements of the market, SAP.iO engages globally with the latest startup innovations to deliver on the vision of helping customers gain insights into their carbon footprints, material flows, and diversity and inclusion initiatives.

We run programs to accelerate startups focused on sustainability.

From the consumer to the enterprise to federal government action, our startup innovation has it covered. The SAP.iO team has the privilege of partnering with startups whose technology assists organizations as they shift their priority towards sustainability. During our partnership with these companies, we bring them together with SAP customers and can learn firsthand what resonates and what solutions meet the industry’s ever-changing needs. Alone this year’s fall / winter cohorts support a wide variety of sustainability goals:

  • Foundry Singapore’s Future of Work Program focuses on helping customers increase the value of their workforce by developing, managing, engaging, and empowering their people to develop a skilled, healthy & inclusive workforce.
  • Foundry Munich’s New Mobility Program is helping customers manage connectivity in transport, fleet management, charging and battery management, and automated and autonomous driving. Solutions that enable incremental steps towards sustainable mobility for urban, sub-urban and intra-urban mobility needs.
  • Foundry New York’s Sustainability in Retail & Consumer Program helps customers in the Retail, Consumer Products & Fashion industries drive sustainability across the value chain, including circular packaging, responsible & ethical sourcing, and responsible design & production.
  • Foundry San Francisco’s Sustainability in Energy & Natural Resources Program supports customers in the Energy and Natural Resources industries build sustainable businesses, improve experiences, and manage their environmental footprint and sustainability goals, including compliance, regulation, tracking, & carbon trading.
  • Foundry Paris’s Circular Economic Program helps drive circularity for customers in service industries such as passenger & cargo travel and engineering construction and operations by helping redefine the design, production, demand, and supply of products through their use cycles for reusability, waste reduction, and new value creation.

What we’ve seen:

This past spring SAP.iO Foundries Berlin & Munich teamed up with Accenture on a Sustainability focused startup program to help address critical challenges across industries and create a positive impact on both society and business. The main objective of our collaboration was to attract the world’s most talented founders by providing the perfect environment to grow their business. Combining Accenture’s industry expertise and specialized skills, with leading SAP technologies, expert mentors, and APIs, we will be able to jointly identify innovative use cases and startups that have the potential to transform our global economy into one that benefits all stakeholders. You can take a closer look at the innovative companies that participated here. In working with Accenture and our startups we were able glean important information which we compiled in our thought leadership paper entitled: Sustainability: The Next Digital.

Drive sustainable impact with SAP.iO startup solutions

How is this done? How do we begin to steer the ship in a direction that will meet all our sustainability goals? In working with SAP customers and SAP.iO startups, we’ve seen that the desire to impact this matter coupled with the innovative technology needed to turn the tide, but it must be looked at as a journey instead of a destination. Industries and companies are at different stages of maturity, with requirements in other areas across teams. The challenge is how to make sustainability profitable.

The good news is as an SAP customer you can act now; you don’t have to wait; we can help move you along this journey faster. How? We start by initiating an innovation session to define and prioritize the critical sustainability areas. Then we leverage our experience and startup ecosystem to discover innovative solutions specifically for your business and provide the opportunity to meet with startups to learn about their solutions. Then you can pilot and implement startup solutions that will help achieve your sustainability ambitions.

This post was originally published by Alexa Gorman on LinkedIn. To learn more about SAP.iO sustainability programs, you can visit sap.io/sustainability.