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German Multinational SAP Launches 1st Foundry Program in Tel Aviv with 7 Startups

Foundry owners pictures cutting ribbon

We are excited to welcome these entrepreneurs to the SAP.iO family and help them accelerate their business with SAP,” said Alexa Gorman, head of SAP.iO Foundries EMEA (Europe, Mideast, and Africa). “We recognize that Israel has a dynamic high-tech ecosystem and our Tel Aviv Foundry reflects our commitment to the Israeli ecosystem.” The selected startups will have SAP’s support and access to its technological expertise, the multinational said in a statement.

“We believe in their ability to offer a variety of advanced solutions for SAP’s customers,” said Orna Kleinmann, managing director at SAP Labs Israel and SVP Technology & Innovation Cloud Experience, of the Israeli startups.

The seven selected startups for the 12-week program are:

  • ARpalus, a Caesaria-based AR and predictive analytics retail technology startup founded just this year. ARpalus is building a platform for the automatic collection and deep analysis of shoppers’ behavioral data.
  • EasySend, a Tel Aviv startup founded in 2016 that helps financial enterprises improve customer experience and increase operational efficiency through a platform that enables businesses to present customers with digital forms in a simple interface.
  • GrowthSpace, a startup developing a tailored online coaching platform for enterprise employees.
  • Outgage, a SaaS “marketing first” direct mail platform for email marketing and analytics.
  • Silverback, a Tel Aviv startup founded in 2014 that built a sales intelligence platform for online marketplaces.
  • Supersmart, a Rosh Ha’ayin-based retail tech startup founded in 2014 that provides a “Scan&Go” solution with advanced loss prevention capabilities, enabling consumers to instantly check out their fully- loaded cart or basket.
  • YOUTILIGENT, a Petah Tikva startup founded in 2016 that developed a connected consumer solution for connected appliances using machine learning and IoT tech.

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סאפ השיקה בתל אביב אקסלרטור לסטארט-אפים

סאפ השיקה היום (ג’) בתל אביב את האקסלרטור שלה, SAP.io Foundry, שמיועד לסטארט-אפים שמפתחים פתרונות לארגונים על בסיס של תוכנה כשירות (SaaS), ושהטכנולוגיה שלהם יכולה להתממשק עם הפתרונות של החברה הגרמנית. התכנית הראשונה של המיזם החלה בחודש זה ותסתיים בדצמבר, ובכוונת החברה לקיים שני מחזורים בכל שנה. בסאפ כבר עובדים על המחזורים שיתקיימו בשנה הבאה, ומחפשים חברות. כל מחזור מיועד לחברות מתחום אחר, כשהפעם משתתפים בו סטארט-אפים בתחום הדיפ טק.

SAP’s Venture Arm Announces Startups Selected for Tel Aviv Foundry

Foundry owners pictures cutting ribbon

SAP.iO, the early-stage venture arm of multinational enterprise software company SAP SE, unveiled on Tuesday the seven startups chosen to participate in the first cohort of its new Tel Aviv-based accelerator program, SAP.iO Foundry. As part of the 12-week program, the startups will receive mentorship and access to SAP’s data, technology, and customer base. SAP already operates its foundry program in Paris, Berlin, Munich, New York City, San Francisco, and Tokyo.

The companies are retail analytics startup ARpalus Ltd.; EasySend Ltd., a startup providing customer service technology for financial institutions; online coaching company Growth Space Ltd.; marketing startup Outgage Inc.; online marketplace analytics startup Silverback Associates Ltd.; instant checkout company Supersmart Ltd.; and smart appliances startup YOUTILIGENT smart solutions Ltd.

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German giant SAP sets up accelerator program in Tel Aviv

Foundry owner pictured

German multinational software firm SAP SE is setting up an accelerator program in Israel, seeking new technologies in order to expand the portfolio of technologies and services it can provide to customers.


The Foundry program will be run by SAP.iO, a strategic business unit of SAP set up in 2017 to work closely with startups and tap into their innovations. The unit either invests in early stage startups or runs accelerator programs that provide selected startups with mentorships, a co-working space, and access to its 400,000 customers globally who can work closely with entrepreneurs to make sure their specific needs are met. The program will also make available data and SAP platforms startups may need to develop their technologies.

Seven startups have been selected for the first accelerator cohort:

  • ARpalus is an AR and predictive analytics retail technology startup that uses artificial reality (AR) and predictive analytics for the automatic collection and deep analysis of large-scale shoppers’ behavioral data.
  • EasySend helps financial enterprises improve customer experience and increase operational efficiency by allowing them to digitize all of their paperwork and “cumbersome” forms.
  • GrowthSpace develops tailored online coaching platforms for enterprise employees. Users hold one on one video coaching sessions with specific career objectives.
  • Outgage is a Software as a Service (SaaS) direct mail platform that bridges the gap between offline and online campaigns to create personalized brand experiences for effective conversations between enterprises and their customers.
  • Silverback is a sales intelligence platform for online marketplaces. It uses cross-marketplace analytics to enable online stores, sellers and brands to see their products’ sales performance across different e-commerce channels to enable them to do better pricing, marketing and promotions.
  • Supersmart provides a “Scan&Go” solution that allows consumers to instantly check out their fully loaded cart or basket, enabling a positive customer experience.
  • YOUTILIGENT uses machine learning and Internet of Things to enable vendors and service providers to change the way they communicate with their appliances.

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German Tech Giant SAP Launches Tel Aviv Start-up Accelerator

Foundry owners pictures cutting ribbon

German software giant SAP further expanded its significant Israeli operations on Tuesday as the company launched the newest branch of its SAP.iO “Foundry” start-up accelerator in Tel Aviv. The SAP.iO Foundry program is part of SAP’s multi-million dollar global innovation strategy to accelerate early-stage business-to-business (B2B) start-ups and provide hi-tech solutions to more than 400,000 customers.

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Inside SaaS: 7 key dimensions that matter for a well oiled SaaS machine(& how to harness 21 areas and monitor +60 SaaS metrics)

The past few years have seen incredible innovation and execution take place and taken many companies to horizons never imagined before. Yet these SaaS businesses require a specific structure and well oiled parts to function well. Any large organization like SAP, which has sustained the years and grown its revenue base, recognizes that a few right mechanisms can be key to achieve fast growth and long term sustainability.

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SAP.IO מכריזה על תוכנית FOUNDRY SAP.IO ראשונה בת”א

(SAP SE (NYSE: SAP הכריזה היום, על נבחרת בת שבע חברות סטארטאפ ישראליות הנכללות בסבב הראשון של SAP.iO Foundry TLV. התוכנית המהווה חלק מאסטרטגית החדשנות של SAP, נועדה לספק סיוע ותמיכה לחברות סטארטאפ צעירות (early stage) מתחום ה-B2B בבניית תוכנות אשר יספקו ערך משמעותי עבור לקוחותיה של SAP. לחברות הסטארטאפ תהיה גישה לייעוץ ייעודי, חשיפה לממשקי התכנות של SAP בתחומי התוכנה והטכנולוגיה והזדמנות לשיתופי פעולה עם הלקוחות של חברת SAP.

BigID Raises $50 Million to help businesses comply with privacy regulations

BigID, an Israeli-American startup helping enterprises with data protection and privacy, announced the closure of a Series C funding round of $50 million led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors SAP.io Fund, Comcast Ventures, Boldstart Ventures, Scale Venture Partners and ClearSky, as well as new investor, Salesforce Ventures. BigID is based in New York with offices in Tel Aviv. The company said it will use the funds to meet the growing demand for its technology, expand global sales and introduce new products for data privacy, data governance and protection.

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Cracking the code: From startup to scale up in enterprise software

Panel of speakers at Tech Crunch

By Ram Jambunathan

The startup journey is hard. An estimated 75% of venture-backed companies never return cash to investors; only 1% go on to become unicorns. Startup success requires brutally efficient execution and a bit of luck. My own experience as a startup founder attests to this. When we started T-Networks (now a part of Broadcom), we had to build our own semiconductor fab and packaging facility, while at the same time competing with deep-pocketed, well-established multinationals. A “pivot” in those days, should we decide we needed to change in tack (e.g., different product in different segment), was going to be a fairly difficult (if not impossible) road to travel. So, I have to say I’m excited (and perhaps even a little envious) when I see the opportunities entrepreneurs have today — to build, test, refine, and even pivot — now that the need to construct the infrastructure required to develop the actual product is removed.

Of course, there are still challenges. In enterprise software, it also requires industry expertise, access to strong networks, and an ability to reach customers — all of which pose significant barriers to many entrepreneurs who aspire to transform industries. This is where a strategic partner like SAP can help early-stage startups scale the barriers to success.

The SAP.iO Fund and SAP.iO Foundries invest in and accelerate early-stage startups at the leading edge of B2B software innovation, who leverage a combination of emerging technologies like AI or IoT, business process expertise, and new business models. We realize that agile, early-stage startups complementary to SAP can expand and enhance the SAP ecosystem and solutions, giving our customers access to relevant, cutting-edge solutions. While SAP can help startups target customer needs, connect to SAP systems, and access SAPs broad customer base.

A key challenge many startups have after finding product-market fit is scaling. This can require significant investment, especially on the customer acquisition side — from marketing to sales to customer success. But what if the right partner could help to identify and prioritize high-value prospects, make those introductions, and then even help to drive the sales process? This is the type of startup partner SAP and SAP.iO strives to be — even for early-stage startups.

Startups that SAP.iO supports receive strong and unprecedented exposure to our field and customers. We have dedicated resources on the SAP.iO team that ensure SAP.iO startups get visibility and interest from internal account teams, customers, and partners. For example, during the first half of 2019 alone, at least 150 major customers visited SAP.iO Foundries in NA and Europe to meet with the startups SAP.iO is supporting.

In particular, on the go-to-market side, startups ask about the tactical ways that SAP typically partners with startups, where the field is provided incentives to position and / or sell a startup partner’s solution. In my session today at Techcrunch Enterprise 2019, I shared the stage with 3 SAP.iO Fund startups — BigID, Medal, and Plum — who discussed the various ways they work with SAP to scale sales and deliver value to customers:

  1. CO-SELL — in this model, startups get exposure to the SAP customer base via the SAP AppCenter. SAP customers can discover, try, and buy startup solutions. Customers transact through the SAP AppCenter, on the startup partners’ contract paper. Select partners may have special pipeline generation activities supported by an SAP Business Unit.
  2. RE-SELL — in this model, startup partner solutions can be sold via the SAP Solution Extension program, where the solution is sold by the field on SAP contract paper and is also supported by dedicated partner management. This is generally reserved for more mature startups.
  3. OEM (INBOUND) — in this model, the startup solution is embedded into an SAP solution. SAP then sells the combined offering on SAP paper, with the startup receiving a license fee from SAP for using their IP.

By leveraging these types of partnerships, startups can dramatically expand their reach, pipeline, and ability to deliver value to SAP customers. It’s important to note that startups dramatically increase success working with a channel partner if they already have a successful, scalable, repeatable sales formula (or process) that they can teach to the partner. Contrary to popular startup mythology, early-stage startups can have success cracking the code with large enterprise partners — SAP.iO is proof of this.

Cracking the code: From startup to scale up in enterprise software

By Ram Jambunathan

The startup journey is hard. An estimated 75% of venture-backed companies never return cash to investors; only 1% go on to become unicorns. Startup success requires brutally efficient execution and a bit of luck. My own experience as a startup founder attests to this. When we started T-Networks (now a part of Broadcom), we had to build our own semiconductor fab and packaging facility, while at the same time competing with deep-pocketed, well-established multinationals. A “pivot” in those days, should we decide we needed to change in tack (e.g., different product in different segment), was going to be a fairly difficult (if not impossible) road to travel. So, I have to say I’m excited (and perhaps even a little envious) when I see the opportunities entrepreneurs have today — to build, test, refine, and even pivot — now that the need to construct the infrastructure required to develop the actual product is removed.

Read More…

BigID Raises $50M in Series C Funding

BigID's company logo

BigID, a NYC- and Tel Aviv, Israel-based data-centric personal data privacy and protection platform, raised $50m in Series C funding.
The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors SAP.io Fund. In conjunction with the funding, Alex Ferrara, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, will join the BigID Board of Directors.

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BigID announces $50M Series C investment as privacy takes center stage

BigID's company logo

It turns out GDPR was just the tip of the privacy iceberg. With California’s privacy law coming on line January 1st and dozens more in various stages of development, it’s clear that governments are taking privacy seriously, which means companies have to as well. New York startup BigID, which has been developing a privacy platform for the last several years, finds itself in a good position to help. Today, the company announced a $50 million Series C. The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners with help from SAP.iO Fund. Today’s investment brings the total raised to more than $96 million, according to Crunchbase.

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SAP.iO Launches Enterprise Health-Focused Startup Accelerator Program in New York

SAP kicked off its healthcare-focused accelerator program at SAP.iO Foundry New York.

The SAP.iO program is designed to accelerate startups working within healthcare: hospital system providers, employee health and wellness solutions, medical devices and health IT. SAP.iO will provide access to curated mentorship, exposure to SAP technology and application programming interfaces (APIs), and opportunities to collaborate with SAP customers to each of the seven early-stage startups chosen for the program.

The SAP.iO Foundry New York cohort includes the following startups:

  • Bravely connects employees with professional coaches for confidential conversations in the moments they need it most and helps HR leaders improve productivity and retention.
  • Droice Labs is an artificial intelligence (AI) company specializing in understanding real-world clinical data to help physicians provide better care to their patients. Droice uses natural language understanding (NLU) methods while working with providers, payors, life sciences companies and government bodies across the United States and Europe.
  • Hindsait offers a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that applies AI to large healthcare datasets, helping payors and providers improve patient health and reduce costs.
  • MeQuilibrium provides the leading SaaS-based engagement and performance platform that harnesses behavioral psychology to unleash workforce resilience, agility and full potential.
  • MyMeds is enhancing patient medication adherence with an engaging digital platform and content, reducing costs for payors while improving outcomes for their members.
  • SilverCloud Health enables employers and healthcare organizations to deliver clinically validated mental health therapeutic care through an easy-to-use platform, helping to improve outcomes and increase access.
  • Time Study employs machine learning and predictive analytics to automate hospital time submissions, tracking and reporting, all via one platform. The real-time results allow providers to meet compliance requirements for areas such as Medicare and grants.

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