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In Blog, Inclusiveness

Here’s how to improve diversity in startups

Innovation has always been about generating good ideas by challenging the status quo with new viewpoints. That is why diversity is fundamental to the sustained success of any innovation ecosystem. Promoting diversity in entrepreneurship and technological innovation can deliver greater economic and societal value.

As society experiments with new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), we must be careful to ensure that our own individual biases do not taint the data we use to train AI algorithms. Training data must accurately represent human viewpoints from the global population, so that AI can augment humans ethically, safely, and fairly.

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In Fund, Foundries, Inclusiveness, Press Release

SAP.iO No Boundaries to Fund and Incubate Over 200 Startups Led by Women and Minorities

WALLDORF — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced SAP.iO No Boundaries, an initiative to offer venture capital and incubation to underrepresented entrepreneurs.

As the first company in the business software industry to do so, SAP pledges to commit up to 40 percent of the investable capital in the SAP.iO Fund and scale the SAP.iO Foundries program with focus on inclusive entrepreneurship. The goal is to help at least 200 startups around the world within the next five years.

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In Fund, Foundries, Press, Inclusiveness, Press Coverage

Inc. Magazine: Venture Fund from SAP Aims to Combat “Sexism, Racism, and Bro-ism”

On Sunday, January 20, software giant SAP became the latest company–and, it says, the only business software company–to target a share of its venture investments directly to women and underrepresented minorities.

Its fund, called SAP.iO, was launched in 2017 and invests in business-to-business startups that are a fit with SAP’s own technology platforms. With $35 million to invest, it’s already put about $4 million to work in 15 companies, 60 percent of which are in the U.S. Now, under an initiative called SAP.iO No Boundaries, the fund will invest 40 percent of its money in women and underrepresented minorities, says SAP chief strategy officer Deepak Krishnamurthy. He says the company will start ramping up its Asia-Pacific focus within the next year.

In Press Coverage, Foundries, Inclusiveness

SAP: Women Often Have the Better Ideas

SAP will commit to using up to 40 percent of the capital of its SAP.iO-Fund to promote start-ups founded by women or minority individuals. “SAP is committed to improving the competitive environment for founders and minority founders in the start-up ecosystem,” said SAP Chief Strategy Officer Deepak Krishnamurthy. “And we do not do that to calm a bad conscience, but because often, women have the better ideas and make better returns in our fund.” (Original in German)

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In Foundries, Blog, New York

Announcing the SAP.iO Foundry NY Winter 2019 Cohort of Enterprise Social Impact Tech Startups

Today, we are thrilled to welcome eight companies comprising our second class at SAP.iO Foundry NY. For this cohort, we wanted to take our vision of inclusive entrepreneurship a step farther beyond the work we did with our inaugural cohort of women-led enterprise tech startups. Stemming from a desire to use technology as a catalyst for action and change, we not only wanted to work with a class of women and diverse founders, but those that everyday are making a social impact in sustainability or helping companies do business without bias.

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In Press, Article, Paris

SAP fördert Start-ups von Frauen

Im Kino Babylon findet am Mittwochabend eine besondere Vorführung statt. Zehn Start-ups stellen ihre Geschäftsidee und den Stand der Entwicklung vor. Weview beispielsweise will zum „Youtube für Produktbewertungen“ werden. Die Berliner bieten eine Plattform auf der Nutzer Videos mit ihren Einschätzungen zu gekauften Produkten veröffentlichen können und stellen sie auch Unternehmen zur Verfügung. Andere Jungunternehmen aus Irland, der Ukraine, Südafrika oder Indien unterstützen Unternehmen, mithilfe von maschinellem Lernen Daten zu analysieren oder bestimmte Prozesse zu automatisieren.