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In Foundries, Funding Announcement

Venture Activity June 2023

SAP.iO’s ecosystem of successful raises and exits

June 2023

SAP.iO has curated over 525 startups in SAP’s startup ecosystem. We’re proud that many of the startups from our programs continue to raise VC funding and have successful exits. This demonstrates that SAP startup technologies are addressing the rapidly changing requirements of the marketplace and have risen to the occasion of meeting customer needs. Here are the latest raises and exits you should know about!

Funding

Sparetech, a Stuttgart, Germany-based provider of a data platform for industrial spare parts, raised $10M in Series A funding. The company intends to use the funds to scale internationally. Sparetech has served more than 120 global manufacturing companies, such as Bosch, Nestlé, Porsche, Yanfeng, and Airbus Helicopters.

Humanly, a Seattle startup that helps companies automate their recruiting functions, raised $12 million to help fuel growth of its AI-powered software. Customers such as Microsoft, the Seattle Storm, and Moss Adams use Humanly to screen job candidates, schedule interviews, automate initial communication, run reference checks, and more.

SustainCERT, a Livange, Luxembourg-based climate impact verification company, raised $37M in Series B funding. The company intends to use the funds to invest in the acceleration of the commercial, organizational and technology scale up to support the growth of its recently launched value chain decarbonization impact solution for Scope 3 emissions and the soon to be launched digital verification solution for carbon markets.

Sust Global closed a $1.5M seed round on June 2nd from a Venture – Series Unknown round.

Exits

Ecoplant, which develops technology to increase energy efficiency and reduce air pollution in factories, was acquired by American industrial giant Ingersoll Rand. Industry sources estimate that the deal is valued at $40-50 million.

Sensire, a leading provider of medical and food safety software solutions, was acquired by Main Capital Partners.  Main will support Sensire in its continued organic growth journey both in Finland and internationally as well as supporting with a selective buy & build strategy.

Andjaro was acquired by Silae to tackle the issue of replacements. Since last September, Silae has further accelerated by buying 6 companies including a new one this June: Andjaro.

 

In Uncategorized

How GrainChain Is Leveling the Playing Field

GrainChain has been nominated in HackerNoon’s annual Startup of the Year awards in McAllen, Texas, USA.

Meet GrainChain

GrainChain is working to level the playing field for producers and all other participants along the global agricultural supply chain by directly addressing current pain points such as reliability of data, traceability, the speed of payments, and access to financing and insurance.

My Role

I am Tom DeRosa, Director of Marketing for GrainChain. I have the privilege of crafting GrainChain’s story and sharing it with the world, from what we do to how we do it and the impact we are making across the global agricultural supply chain.

I’m excited about our most recent campaign: interviews with the producers, lenders, and other supply chain participants that we work with. There are real people and real world success stories behind our impressive technological innovations.

How We’re Disrupting/Improving the Agricultural Industry

We’re bringing the technological tools that large-scale producers use and making them available to small to medium-sized producers.

GrainChain is working to take an industry that is still relying on paper and labor-intensive practices and move it toward a productive, sustainable future, helping producers, buyers, storage operators, lenders, and other supply chain participants around the world.

Our software ecosystem solves problems for all participants at every stage of the supply chain, providing better visibility, efficiency, and data. We are not merely aggregating data but generating it, and the reliability of this data allows us to open up new opportunities in the marketplace.

Standing Out from The Crowd

We are unique because we are not creating solutions in search of a problem.

We’re not building blockchain and IoT-driven solutions because that technology is popular and draws attention–we are constantly seeking out the best technology and approaches available to solve real-world problems faced along the agricultural supply chain.

More importantly, we are applying these technologies the right way.

Each solution we have built solves a specific problem that producers, buyers, lenders, storage operators, and other supply chain participants are facing in markets around the world.

We believe no one is really tackling supply chain efficiency, traceability, and liquidity in the holistic way we are, connecting all participants through a single point of truth.

Our Predictions/Thoughts on the Agricultural Industry in 2023

Automation and digitization of processes at each stage of the supply chain will continue to ramp up in 2023, meaning more reliable, real-time data can be captured, stored, and made available to all stakeholders.

This data is key to lowering risk and providing producers with more and better financial options from loans to insurance.

AI is going to be transformative in this industry as it is across all industries. AI can help supply chain participants identify anomalous data and solve problems more quickly.

It can enhance predictive analytics and forecasting so that producers can make their operations more efficient and get better prices in a highly volatile marketplace.

As with many industries, there will be a shift away from proprietary hardware and heavy investments in infrastructure toward cloud computing and mobile apps that allow producers, storage operators, and logistics providers to more quickly and easily integrate technology into their operations.

We’re in an age of amazing advancements in technology, but the key is applying the right technologies in the right way to truly impact the agricultural supply chain.

Read More…

In Supply Chain Management, New York

Leveraging SAP’s Industry Cloud, Going from Concept to Commercialization Can Be Fast and Fulfilling

 

As recently as late 2020, Cogniac was a little-known Silicon Valley startup with promising artificial intelligence (AI)-driven computer vision (CV) technology and a big-time opportunity to find new markets for that technology via the SAP.iO program.

Fast forward two-and-half years to the spring of 2023, and not only has Cogniac found a strong market for its technology, it has earned a place among the vanguard of enterprise-class CV software, having been recognized by analyst firm IDC as a leader in the field alongside the likes of AWS, Google, and Microsoft.

How does a company ascend so far, so fast? In the case of San Jose, California-based Cogniac, it couldn’t have happened without superior technology, a partnership-driven mindset, and an openness to work with SAP to develop an industry cloud solution that readily integrates with the SAP portfolio to bring more value to customers.

Cogniac’s Visual Operations Intelligence platform is one of more than 300 apps and integrated end-to-end solutions developed within SAP’s industry cloud and is available to customers across multiple industry verticals in SAP Store. Cogniac’s technology also has been integrated into the SAP Digital Manufacturing solution, providing AI-enabled visual inspection capabilities for the shop floor to customers in a range of industries.

Cogniac is among a wave of up-and-coming companies that are blazing a trail for other independent developers to follow, showing how to leverage the expertise and resources of SAP and system integrator partners to quickly scale up and monetize their intellectual property and technology. It’s all part of SAP’s “one-portfolio” approach, which is rooted in the belief that by working together, companies that are actively engaged in SAP’s industry cloud – including independent developers, global and regional services partners, and others – can create solutions that generate more value for customers and themselves than they otherwise would working individually. The one-portfolio approach is first and foremost about solving customers’ business problems, whether the solution comes from an SAP partner, SAP itself, or a combination of the two.

In Cogniac’s case, the solution was born from the SAP.iO program and, following a successful pilot project involving automotive parts production, it’s now fully commercialized for customers in travel and transportation, automotive manufacturing, mill and mining, industrial manufacturing, and other verticals seeking to upgrade and automate their visual inspection capabilities for quality management and maintenance.

Read More…

In Awards

5 SAP.iO Startups Named to Sifted’s 2023 Report on Rising 100 B2B Startups in Europe & Israel

SAP.iO alumni Wandelbots, WorkMotion, Pecan, Explorium, and EasySend were named to Sifted’s “Europe’s Rising 100” list for 2023. Sifted’s in-depth reports investigate the most transformative trends shaping startup Europe, across essential sectors, themes and geographies.

100 B2B SaaS startups that are a few steps away from becoming unicorns.

You can access the report here.

In Supply Chain Management

KINEXON OS Now Integrates with SAP’s Supply Chain Portfolio – Database Trends and Applications

KINEXON Industries, a provider of innovative industrial IoT (IIoT) solutions, is partnering with SAP to bring KINEXON OS – Order Tracking and Process Management into the SAP supply chain solution portfolio, enabling customers to automate operations, improve efficiency, and drive sustainability.

KINEXON OS provides Order Tracking and Process Management, a comprehensive solution that enables businesses to streamline and automate shop floor processes, resulting in significant improvements in productivity. A particular focus of the cloud-based software is real-time tracking of all moving assets and the management of logistics and production orders.

“We are thrilled to have this partnership between KINEXON and SAP coming to the market and providing customers with end-to-end solutions,” Oliver Trinchera, CEO and co-founder, KINEXON. “The integration of our solution into SAP’s supply chain solution portfolio enables companies around the globe to gain a competitive advantage by automating their operations. Our solution is designed to help businesses meet the challenges of Industry 4.0 and sustainability.”

With this partnership, businesses can benefit from the best-in-class supply chain solutions of SAP, combined with the cutting-edge technology of KINEXON.

Read More…

In Consumer Industries, CRM & Customer Experience, Success Stories, Foundries

5 companies leveraging startup innovation to improve their customer experience

To provide exceptional customer experiences, companies are turning to startup innovation. By partnering with startups, established organizations can tap into novel technologies, fresh perspectives, and agile methodologies to revolutionize how they engage and delight their customers.

SAP.iO simplifies the collaboration between SAP customers and cutting-edge enterprise software startups by facilitating seamless integration with SAP solutions. Our portfolio of 150+ enterprise-ready startup solutions integrated with SAP Customer Experience enables customers to drive innovation.

This roundup showcases five companies that have embraced startup solutions to elevate their customer experience.

 

Adverity & Ikea: How IKEA uses data to identify the best paths to success 

IKEA worked with Adverity’s data analytics platform to consolidate and analyze vast amounts of marketing data from various sources. By leveraging Adverity’s solution, IKEA gained valuable insights and improved the efficiency of their marketing campaigns, ultimately leading to better decision-making and enhanced marketing performance. 

Adverity works with SAP Industry Cloud, SAP Integration Suite, and SAP Marketing Cloud and is available on the SAP Store. 

Jebbit & NHL: How the NHL Scores Authentic Fan Engagement 

The NHL worked with Jebbit to improve its user acquisition and engagement strategies. The NHL used interactive experiences and personalized content powered by Jebbit’s platform to drive user engagement, increase fan loyalty, and ultimately grow their user base. 

Jebbit works with SAP Emarsys Customer Engagement and SAP Customer Data Platform and is available on the SAP Store.  

LISNR & Jaguar Land Rover: Jaguar Land Rover Drives Connectivity with LISNR  

Jaguar Land Rover worked with LISNR to overcome connectivity challenges in linking passengers with their mobile devices and vehicles. By leveraging LISNR’s secure ultrasonic data transmission technology, they improved connectivity, enabled authentication, and delivered personalized in-car experiences, surpassing their implementation goals. 

LISNR works with SAP Customer Data Cloud and SAP Commerce Cloud and is available on the SAP Store.

Mercaux & Holland & Barrett: Launching a Digital Transformation Project  

Holland & Barrett collaborated with Mercaux to launch a new pilot digital transformation project. Using Mercaux’s digital retail solutions, Holland & Barrett aimed to enhance the in-store customer experience, improve product visibility, and drive sales through personalized recommendations and interactive features.  

Mercaux works with SAP Industry Cloud and SAP Commerce and is available on the SAP Store.   

Yellow.ai & Sephora: Embracing Digital Experiences Powered by Conversational AI

Sephora wanted to adopt an omnichannel approach to providing a best-in-class retail experience across both offline and online channels to their customers at any hour of the day. They worked with Yellow.ai to introduce a virtual assistant that provides personalized beauty consultations and can help customers with checking product availability, reserving products, managing in-store pickup, and facilitating product returns.

Yellow.ai works with SAP Commerce Cloud, SAP CRM Sales, and SAP CRM Service Manager and is available on the SAP Store.

 

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

In Uncategorized

Lilz brings its gauge-watching smart cameras to the US and raises $4M

When you run big real-life industrial operations, there’s always a gauge or readout somewhere deep in the facility that your engineers or field teams need to check in person. Lilz is a Japanese startup that builds devices you can set up to read these meters remotely, and the company just raised $4.1 million as they enter the North American market.

Lilz’s devices are basically battery-powered smart cameras that can last for years between charges, while monitoring something like a pressure gauge 24/7.

It may sound a little odd in this modern era — why not just have a smart steam gauge in the first place? The simple truth is much infrastructure and heavy industry doesn’t have that option, or retrofitting may be prohibitively expensive. Yet for safety or efficiency reasons, some simple readout needs to be looked at regularly.

Sending a human down is the simplest solution or was until Lilz made its devices available a couple years ago. Their robust but low-power computer vision stack analyzes images of the gauge and relays that information digitally.

Now the Okinawa-based company has about 3,500 active cameras at 500 locations and has raised 590 million yen (approximately $4.1 million today) to fuel the next phase of their business. Its investors include JIC Venture Growth Investments, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Tokyo Century, Dimension Fund, Okinawa Development Finance Corporation, Okinawa’s Science and Technology Development Center, and Dogan Beta. That’s a Series B round, about twice their $2.2 million Series A round in 2021.

The company has received FCC and ISED certification for its devices and is preparing to launch in the U.S. and Canada. They plan to double their camera deployments and then rapidly expand afterward.

Read More…

In CRM & Customer Experience

The SAP Store Now Offers yellow.ai’s Generative AI-powered ChatBots and VoiceBots for Employee and Customer Experience

Yellow.ai, a global leader in Conversational AI announced that its generative AI-powered ChatBots and VoiceBots solution for customer and employee experience automation are now available on SAP Store, the digital marketplace for SAP and partner offerings. Both solutions are built on SAP Business Technology Platform using SAP Integration Suite. While the customer experience (CX) solution integrates with SAP Commerce, SAP Commerce Cloud, SAP CRM Sales, and SAP CRM Service Manager, the employee experience (EX) solution integrates with SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central.

“Leveraging multi-LLM architecture, our generative AI-powered Dynamic Automation Platform is helping enterprises redefine how they connect with both customers and employees, giving them a competitive advantage and valuable ROI at scale,” said Raghu Ravinutala, CEO & Co-founder, Yellow.ai.

Available on SAP Store for a free trial.

Read More…

In Financial Services, ERP & Finance

B2B payment fraudsters exploit security holes: Trustpair

Trustpair’s survey found that payment fraud is a growing concern for corporate financial professionals, with 56% of U.S. companies saying they were victims of a fraud attempt in 2022. About one in three respondents said the number of incidents has increased year over year.

Nearly a quarter of fraud victims said they lost more than $100,000, and 5% reported losing more than $1 million.

To combat the problem, companies have put a wide variety of measures in place, including manual reviews for payment change requests, according to Trustpair’s report. “These manual processes do not seem sufficient to fight fraud, especially considering the evolving nature of fraud,” it said, adding that technology can help finance teams “focus on where the risk really is and reduce low-value tasks.”

Last year, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received 21,832 complaints involving fraud attempts via “business email compromise” scams, with adjusted losses totaling over $2.7 billion, according to a report released in March.

With such scams, criminals send an email message with a payment request that appears to come from a known source. This can include an emailed invoice with an updated mailing address from an individual impersonating a vendor.

Read More…

In Supply Chain Management, Awards

RealWear Wins Best Manufacturing and Industrial Solution at XR Today Awards 2023

RealWear, the pioneer of assisted reality wearable solutions for frontline industrial professionals, has won ‘Best Manufacturing and Industrial Solution’ at the XR Today Awards 2023. The annual XR Awards celebrate the best in AR/VR/MR innovation, and the online event invites international firms and individuals to come forward to showcase their achievements in the immersive industry. The win follows RealWear being named ‘Best Industrial Solution’, ‘Best Construction Solution’ and ‘Best Automotive Solution’ at last year’s awards.

Out of the almost 400 entries for this year’s event, only 16 applicants walked away a winner. XR Today gathered an esteemed group of industry professionals to judge the event; each selected expert representing a wealth of industry insight and diversity. This year’s judges included Amy LaMeyer, the Managing Partner of the WXR Fund, Amy Peck, the Founder & CEO of EndeavorXR, Sophia Moshasha, the VP of the VR/AR Association’s DC Chapter, Dr Faisal Mushtaq, Associate Director of the Centre for Immersive Technologies, Amelia Kallman, London Futurist, Speaker, Author, Tom Ffiske of Immersive Wire, Yanna Zhu, a Metaverse & XR Specialist at BCG, and Jay Latta, an Emerging Technology Strategist.

“We’re immensely proud of our continued industry recognition. Having won in three separate categories just last year, and now being recognized as the Best Manufacturing and Industrial Solution, it’s a testament to our customer-focused solution strategy,” stated Jon Arnold, Vice President of EMEA at RealWear. “This recognition from XR Today highlights the substantial value we bring to our customers through our innovative solutions. RealWear’s unwavering commitment to delivering cutting-edge assisted reality solutions for the manufacturing and industrial sectors has played a pivotal role in securing this prestigious accolade.”

Read More…

In CRM & Customer Experience

Jebbit Launches AI-Powered Interactive Digital Experiences

Jebbit, the provider of the world’s first zero-party data and customer experience platform, announced the launch of its new AI-powered Experience Generator and Language Translation capabilities, accelerating the ability for businesses to build meaningful connections with audiences across all channels. The innovative features allow marketers to build Jebbit experiences – personalized interactive quizzes, trivia and surveys – in seconds, then translate them into multiple languages with the click of a button, enabling brands to quickly scale globally.

Generative AI has dominated 2023, with Forrester reporting that the global artificial intelligence software market is expected to reach $126 billion by 2025. As with disruptive consumer data privacy regulations in the past, and industry-shifting technology like AI, Jebbit always strives to remain on the right side of marketing; that is, prioritizing consumer trust and experience. Jebbit’s new AI-powered experiences strategically balance intelligent technology with human judgment to edit, analyze and personalize data in a way that improves online experiences, while improving speed-to-market. In contrast, many companies leverage AI in data targeting small population sizes and then extrapolate that to the masses without deeper insights.

Jebbit’s AI-powered Experience Generator and Language Translation capabilities have been extensively beta-tested by customers and volunteers in order to provide real-world feedback and to inform future capabilities. One such future capability is AI-Assist,  coming soon across the Jebbit platform, to equip users with AI-powered assistance in creating content such as informed product recommendations, question generation, guidance on rephrasing questions, and the ability to automatically leverage design elements from a website (text, colors, images).

Read More…

In Supply Chain Management

Revuze Unveils Revuze Alerts: AI-Powered Notifications to Empower Brands With Real-Time Market Intelligence

Revuze, the leading AI solution helping consumer brands make data-driven decisions from consumer reviews, is thrilled to announce its latest feature release: Revuze Alerts.

Revuze Alerts were designed to ensure direct-to-consumer companies can proactively stay on top of their category, brand, and products. The push notification suite includes: Insight Alerts, Consumer Sentiment Alerts, Star Rating Alerts, and Recently Added Alerts. These alerts will be pushed to relevant stakeholders any time there is a data refresh or when there is a change that is one standard deviation above and below the average.

“We are constantly thinking of ways to optimize our customers’ user experience. Brand professionals have little time and are constantly adapting to the marketplace. The AI algorithm is becoming proactive rather than reactive which is groundbreaking. Revuze Alerts is ushering the next phase of the product and there are more great developments on their way,” – Ido Ramati, Revuze Founder and COO.

To help open company bottlenecks further and ensure transparency, Revuze Alert reports can be sent to key decision-makers who may not be using platform users.

Read More…

In Supply Chain Management, Berlin

AI-Fueled Satellites Are First-Movers In Launch Of The Space Economy

Just as satellites revolutionized the space age in the 20th century, artificial intelligence (AI) has ignited the newest era in space commercialization with advanced analytics that can make the world’s infrastructure grid safer and more reliable. This latest innovation comes from LiveEO, a startup that delivers AI-powered analytics from satellite imagery of linear grids. The cloud-based service is already helping electric, railway, and pipeline companies detect and act on earthbound risks fast and safely.

“Intelligent satellite-based data is an efficient and eco-friendly way to monitor the ground environment around infrastructure,” said Martina Baccolo, global partner and alliances director at LiveEO. “Using AI to analyze satellite data from the earth’s surface, our solutions help companies identify and locate potential hazards to energy and transportation lines in record time with greater efficiencies.”

Headquartered in Berlin with offices in the US, UK and Latvia, LiveEO primarily serves organizations that operate electric power lines, oil and gas pipelines, and railways. Baccolo said that customers can typically reduce electrical outages by 14% within three years, and decrease operational expenses by 30%. She shared the company’s strategy with me at the International SAP Conference for Utilities in Basel.

Read More…

In Portfolio News, Funding Announcement

Venture Activity May 2023

SAP.iO’s ecosystem of successful raises and exits

May 2023

SAP.iO has curated over 525 startups in SAP’s startup ecosystem. We’re proud that many of the startups from our programs continue to raise VC funding and have successful exits. This demonstrates that SAP startup technologies are addressing the rapidly changing requirements of the marketplace and have risen to the occasion of meeting customer needs. Here are the latest raises and exits you should know about!

Funding

Gappify, a California based provider of accounting automation solutions for corporate accounting teams, raised $10M in Series B funding. The round brought the total amount to $22M, and as part of the transaction, FINTOP’s Jared Winegrad, General Partner, will join Gappify’s Board of Directors. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate growth and development of new accounting automation products.

Liftango, the Scotland-based shared mobility platform provider, has received over £2.5m in an investment round. Maven VCTs contributed £1.25m, with a further £1.25m having come from Scottish Enterprise and “a significant but undisclosed investment” amount from prior supporters. Capital raised by Liftango will go towards driving growth in new markets and increasing its presence in established locations.

Hanko has received a single-digit million figure investment from Berlin-based adesso Ventures. The German VC joins forces with existing investors High-Tech Gründerfonds, Smart Infrastructure Ventures, PAYONE founders Carl Frederic Zitscher and Jan Kanieß, as well as Intershop co-founder Roland Fassauer.

Deployed has scored $4M in a seed funding round co-led by Amrock Ventures and US-based M12, Microsoft’s fund that also backed Inworld AI and iLoF recently. Led by female founders Emma Rees and Kayleigh Kuptz, Deployed is focused on redefining the process of creating Statements of Work (SOWs) and planning projects.

Hacobu has closed a ¥1.5B round of funding. Hacobu offers an integrated solution “MOVO ” centering on the operation management system utilizing in-vehicle terminals.

TradeWaltz, which develops trade information collaboration platform “TradeWaltz” that aims to completely digitize trade procedures based on blockchain, has Sumitomo Corporation join the investment and raise 1.65 billion yen newly from the company and other existing shares. It was announced on May 29 that the cumulative amount of funding reached 5.65 billion yen.

Pirika has closed a ¥280M funding round. This investment will help Pirika aims to solve environmental problems with the power of science and technology.

Exits

Rallyware, the Performance Enablement Platform for large sales forces, has acquired the retail sales enablement platform Myagi. Together, Rallyware and Myagi will transform sales rep knowledge, operations, and productivity, delivering strong ROI to world-leading consumer brands and their multi-brand retailer partners.

In San Francisco, HR & People Engagement

Censia Talent Intelligence Launches AI-powered Executive Search Tool, Developed With Industry Leader Monica Bua

Censia Talent Intelligence is excited to announce its development of an AI-powered Executive Search tool, created with the guidance of Monica Bua. A distinguished global retained search executive, Bua has worked closely with Censia’s team on the development of Censia Executive Intelligence, an AI tool revolutionizing the landscape of executive search and talent acquisition.

Bringing over 20 years of executive recruitment and emerging product expertise, Bua guides Censia’s technology team in crafting an innovative solution that merges the realms of executive search and artificial intelligence. The new tool, Censia Executive Intelligence, is designed to provide companies with in-depth market and talent insights, instantaneous market mapping, and an unrivaled competitive advantage.

“By using Censia’s Executive Intelligence platform, we can predict with 97% accuracy how an executive will perform in year one at their new organization. Our platform has profiles on more than 550 million executives globally and can codify an executive’s past performance and help place them in the most impactful roles for top organizations. Our AI is designed to identify these difference makers with precision and speed, and with it, we dramatically reduce the placement time to 45 days, with 70% diversity hires.”

Monica Bua is well regarded across the executive search industry for her ability to identify and deliver transformational talent for preeminent organizations. In addition to her deep domain expertise in leadership assessment, Bua is a venture fund investor, a valued advisor, and a board member for numerous leading-edge technology startups. Her knack for understanding client needs and forming enduring relationships with senior leaders from the Fortune 100 has cemented her reputation as a trusted authority in the industry.

Read More…