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In Video, Technologies, Inspiring Innovators, Foundries, Blog

Inspiring Innovators: Rashi Gupta Co-Founder and Chief Data Scientist Rezo.ai, On Wearing Multiple Hats

At SAP.iO, we work with innovative people and new technologies that positively impact our world every day, and we think it’s time to share their stories with you! In our series, “Inspiring Innovators,” we get to hear how founders, CEOs, presidents of cutting-edge startup technologies overcame, thrived, and pursued their goals. SAP.iO’s Alexa Gorman sat down to discuss the road to success and lessons learned with some of our most inspiring startup founders.

Meet Rashi Gupta

Earning her PhD from the University of Helsinki for data science, Rashi Gupta’s experience equips her for her role as an entrepreneur. Co-Founder and Chief Data Scientist at Rezo.ai, she finds herself taking on multiple functions. Rashi focuses on data science, but she also plays a significant role in sales as the product is very analytical and she thrives on pitching the product. If that’s not all, she currently assists with deliveries, among other tasks. She embodies the idea that you have to wear multiple hats on your journey to entrepreneurial success as a founder. In doing so, she is well on her way to becoming a disruptor in the contact center industry.

Rezo’s AI-Powered Contact Center augments human agents by automating repetitive processes, allowing them to focus on high-value tasks and enhancing customer experience. Rashi founded Rezo.ai with her husband, Manish Gupta, who she says challenges her every day, “he has pushed me beyond what I thought I was capable of, he always encourages me to make the next right move. You need someone to push you, and that helped us get to the next level.” Rashi credits that support and their teamwork at Rezo as part of the reason for their success.

“I was working with a large contact center, and I saw how things happened on the floor. With limited information about the end customers, the callers use to drive conversations taking time while details are checked on multiple 3rd party systems. This led to delay and frustration at the customers end, there was a clear need for process automation. That’s when I realized it was time to elevate the customer experience to the next level.”

Read more and watch highlights of Rashi and Alexa’s discussion here.

 

In Foundries, Berlin, Portfolio News, CRM & Customer Experience

Half a Million Shoppers Have Now Shopped At a Zippin-Powered Store

With 50 Stores Launched Worldwide, Zippin Hits Key Milestones in Adoption of Checkout-free Technology

Zippin, the leading provider of checkout-free technology, announced that it has reached a key milestone having served over half a million shoppers in one of its 50 Zippin-powered stores. Zippin calculates that it has saved consumers over 83,000 hours to-date, conservatively estimating that frictionless retail reduces the average shopping trip by 10 minutes.

As our desire for more and more frictionless experiences continues to grow, Zippin plans to scale rollout of its technology with key partners around the globe, improving the overall retail experience, and establishing its position as the top checkout-free platform provider.

“Retailers are under immense pressure to deliver fast, frictionless experiences for consumers, and this is especially true in high-traffic venues where time is limited,” said Krishna Motukuri, CEO and co-founder of Zippin. “We recognize that speed can’t come at the expense of accuracy. With each new store launch, Zippin’s AI improves its ability to provide the best experience for both retailers and shoppers, who are fast coming to expect this level of convenience. That’s why it’s so important that we continue to scale, quickly.”

Read More…

In Foundries, Blog, Tokyo, Sustainability

SAP.iO Foundry Tokyo To Accelerate Startups for Sustainable Enterprise

April 20, 2021 — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today launched its B2B startup program at SAP.iO Foundry Tokyo with focus on Sustainable Enterprise. Six startups working in the areas of chasing Zero Emissions, Zero Waste, Zero Inequality, and building trust with transparency have been selected to join the program.

“With SAP customers generating 87% of total global commerce, we recognize both the opportunity and responsibility to deliver digital solutions that enable our customers to manage limited resources productively, contribute to an inclusive economy, and shape a sustainable future.” said Hirofumi Suzuki, SAP Japan President and Representative Director. “This program will encourage our customers to utilize a variety of new solutions or technologies with SAP systems brought by cutting-edged startups”

The equity-free program is designed to accelerate innovation and drive new business models for SAP’s customers. During the 13-week virtual program, the startups will have access to curated mentorship, exposure to SAP® technology and application programming interfaces (APIs), as well as collaboration opportunities with SAP customers.

The data and analytics cohort includes the following startups:

  • Astamuse provides data and algorithms for solving social problems and creating the future.
  • Babel provide “ailead” – cloud-based online meeting management and analysis service that maximizes the results of the entire sales team by supporting the development of salespersons.
  • Eitoss provides cloud services specialized in kaizen proposals system for manufacturing and other on-site industries.
  • Latona develops and provides Edge / AI / IoT Platform, Products, Solutions and Technologies.
  • Pirika contributes to resolve environmental issues based “Takanome” (assess litter distribution), “Pirika” (anti-litter SNS application), and “Albatross” (survey system of microplastics).
  • sustainacract provides highly transparent forest evaluation solution to generate sound fund flow to nature capital.

About SAP.iO
SAP.iO delivers new partnerships and products for SAP by accelerating and scaling startup innovation as well as incubating employee ventures. SAP.iO brings together innovators from every region, industry, and line of business to transform how businesses run. Since 2017, SAP.iO has helped 370+ external startups and internal ventures accelerate their growth while enabling thousands of SAP customers to access innovation. For more information, visit http://sap.io/.

In Foundries, Global, ERP & Finance, Network & Spend Management

5 Visionary Companies Leveraging Startup Innovation to Optimize Business, Finance and Operations Processes

SAP’s ERP, Financial Management, and Spend Management solutions help thousands of businesses increase efficiency and gain insight to guide their businesses by solving complex business problems. Since 2017, SAP.iO has been building an ecosystem of startup solutions to help customers extend the value of their investment in these SAP solutions and we’re proud that over 145 startups in our portfolio are integrated with SAP solutions including SAP S/4HANA and SAP Ariba and are available on the SAP Store. 

 

Each of the 5 companies featured below are staying ahead of the curve by leveraging startup innovation to optimize their business, finance, and operations processes. 

 

Decathlon & Trustpair: Reducing risk by detecting and preventing wire transfer fraud

Decathlon, a leading sporting goods retailer, teamed up with Trustpair to build a clean Vendor Master File and work with reliable supplier data to comply with Loi Sapin II regulations in less than 4 months. Today, Decathlon continues to prevent payment errors and reduce fraud risks by continuously auditing third party databases. 

Trustpair works with SAP S/4HANA, SAP HANA, and SAP Ariba and is available on SAP Store 

Bunge & Sedna: Harmonizing global supply chain communications 

Bunge has over 25,000 employees across 40 countries and was looking for new ways to bring their global supply chain team together. They used SEDNA’s intelligent communication system to harmonize workflows, processes, and information across the company – resulting in improved visibility and productivity. 

Sedna works with SAP S/4HANA Cloud & Industry Cloud and is available on SAP Store 

RWE Power & Pexapark AG: Customizing benchmarks and delivering insights for renewable energy prices   

RWE, a leading German energy company, required clear and up-to-date insights into the current market pricing of clean energy to scale their investment in renewable energy. They partnered with Pexapark to develop a customized pricing, analysis, sourcing, and monitoring solution that models forward pricing curves across European markets on demand. 

 Pexapark AG works with SAP S/4HANA and is available on SAP Store 

Dole & Clarifruit: Developing a next-gen quality control platform to target a 10% reduction in fruit loss 

Dole joined forces with Clarifruit to launch an innovative commercial partnership to automate their quality control processes and reduce fruit loss. By implementing an AI-powered solution, Dole can automatically collect inspection data, integrate it into their ERP system, and provide their leadership team with high-quality real-time information and analytics. 

 Clarifruit works with SAP S/4HANA and is available on SAP Store 

SAP & 4tiitoo: Leveraging eye tracking technology to improve employee ergonomics 

As part of their “pledge to flex” initiative, SAP worked with 4tiitoo to implement their AI-powered gaze control solution that provides employees with an innovative tool that helps improve ergonomics by reducing mouse movements and mouse-keyboard swaps. This new feature is already working to improve employee wellbeing, increase efficiency, and embed accessibility across business processes. 

 4tiitoo works with SAP S/4HANA Cloud and is available on SAP Store 

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

In Foundries, Portfolio News

SAP.iO Takes the SAP Consumer Products Customer Advisory Council

On April 13th, over 50 of SAP’s top customers in Consumer Products gathered virtually at this year’s SAP Consumer Products Customer Advisory Council (CPAC). The group met to discuss the latest trends, challenges, and innovations in the industry, with a focus on exceeding the ever-changing, diverse expectations of consumers. To demonstrate innovations SAP is bringing to customers SAP.iO Startups Jebbit, Mention Me, Teamcore, and Wisy were chosen to present their applications during the session.

“We had four SAP.iO startups join the SAP Consumer Products Council to show innovation that is extending SAP. Teamcore and Wisy are innovative solutions that extend SAP’s solutions for Retail Activity Optimization and Jebbit and Mention Me deliver edge innovations in consumer products marketing. The attendees loved the session and are pursuing next steps.”

-Harris Fogel, Global Vice President Consumer Products

Read More…

In Foundries, HR & People Engagement

Keep Your Eyes on These SAP.iO Human Experience Management Startups

Since 2017, SAP.iO has been working closely with SAP SuccessFactors in order to help build an ecosystem of innovation for HR leaders. As SAP customers continue to utilize SAP SuccessFactors solutions to ensure that their employees have the tools needed to thrive, they can now additionally access over 25 solutions from SAP.iO startups are integrated with SAP SuccessFactors and are available on the SAP Store for customers to discover, learn, and adopt.

Check out these Human Experience Management startups available on SAP Store that are leading the future of work and HR technology.

In Munich, Interview, Inspiring Innovators, Foundries

Inspiring Innovators: Christine Moon President & Co-Founder of BlueSpace on Staying Curious

At SAP.iO, we work with innovative people and new technologies that positively impact our world every day, and we think it’s time to share their stories with you! In our series, “Inspiring Innovators,” we get to hear how founders, CEOs, presidents of cutting-edge startup technologies overcame, thrived, and pursued their goals. SAP.iO’s very own Alexa Gorman sat down to discuss the road to success and lessons learned with some of our most inspiring startup founders. Today we spent time with Christine Moon of BlueSpace to discuss how she used curiosity as a guide throughout her entrepreneurial journey.

Meet Christine Moon

Christine Moon is a perfect example of when life takes you to a fork in the road to look at it as an opportunity. Born in South Korea, she moved to the US as a child for her dad’s work. Not able to speak English and a new culture shook up her world, and she started to look at life differently as she learned new customs. A short time later, her family moved back to South Korea, and she faced another period of readjustment. The influence of other cultures allowed Christine to be curious and learn to enjoy the ride.

In 2019, her world changed once more. Apple purchased the company where Christine was working. As part of her curious nature, she sat back and asked herself, ‘what have we learned? What do we wish we had?’ the answer to that question was certainty. She wanted the certainty to safely deploy software that allows an autonomous system to “see” the velocity of all objects in all directions and scale it across geographies. This question led to a very different approach and inspired her to start a new company, BlueSpace.

Today, Christine Moon is president and Co-founder of BlueSpace, a company leveraging 4D sensors to provide a safety layer for self-driving vehicles. Their dynamic predictive perception software allows an autonomous system to “see” the velocity of all objects in all directions and won them the 2021 NASA iTech Cycle I award. Starting with Christine’s quest for certainty, they built a company that enables safety performance independent of any training data, a technology that allows for immediate reaction to new objects and scenarios.

“Be curious, and this is what I would share with my children or anyone who wants to think about this entrepreneurial journey and take the critical approach. Don’t be afraid to take a different approach to think outside of what you’re used to come up with a solution.”

Read More…

In Foundries, Tel Aviv, Munich, Supply Chain Management, Technologies, Announcements

SAP.iO Launches Resilient Supply Chain Startup Program in Collaboration with Accenture

April 06, 2022 — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) has launched a virtual startup program focused on building a resilient supply chain at the SAP.iO Foundries Munich and Tel Aviv. A jury of experts from SAP and Accenture, alongside SAP partners and SAP customers including Siemens, Porsche Digital selected 12 startups from four supply chain domains to join the program.

The program builds upon SAP and Accenture’s long-standing partnership and shared commitment to using technology to help the world build a more resilient Supply Chain. The startups in this cohort will receive curated mentorship, access to SAP technology and application programming interfaces (APIs), and exposure to SAP and Accenture customers to develop high-impact proofs of concept.

Supply chain operations often represent the greatest area for risk and loss in many companies. By their nature, supply chains are globally dispersed and complex in their functionality. This makes them especially vulnerable to risk. Resilient supply chain technologies reduce risk by allowing visibility into all operations across the network – and empowering businesses to optimize and adapt their processes and logistics in real-time.

To address these challenges in the world’s supply chains, SAP.iO Foundries Munich and Tel Aviv joined forces and introduced the “Resilient Supply Chain” program. The cohort is the largest to date. The startups will work with the Foundries as well as leading companies from various fields on integration and partnership with SAP.

According to Jan Gilg, President and Chief Product Officer SAP S/4HANA, “A resilient supply chain, with risk strategies in place, predicts, responds and recovers from unanticipated events by either returning to its original state or morphing into a state that is even better at profitably meeting customers’ needs. It is about using the right tools to make the right business decisions, even under pressure.”

Over the next 14 weeks, the startups will have access to curated mentorship from SAP executives, exposure to SAP® technology and application programming interfaces (APIs), and opportunities to collaborate with SAP customers around the world. Their work includes creating new partnerships and value propositions that help solve key supply chain challenges.

The following startups are participating in the program:

Business Planning & Resiliency

Transportation Management

  • MIXMOVE AS – Pushing the boundaries of performance, efficiency and sustainability in logistics.
  • Portcast – Real-time predictive visibility and demand forecasting

Warehousing and fulfillment

  • CognitOps Inc.  – Automate your warehouse management
  • Logidot – Optimize your industrial logistics and production with real-time tracking
  • Magazino GmbH – builds and develops intelligent, mobile robots that automate material supply in production logistics.
  • Picavi GmbH – Pick-by-Vision for cost reduction in your warehouse
  • Verity –  Information and insights when and where you need them–powered by self-flying drones

Last-Mile Delivery

About SAP.iO
SAP.iO delivers new partnerships and products for SAP by accelerating and scaling startup innovation as well as incubating employee ventures. SAP.iO brings together innovators from every region, industry, and line of business to transform how businesses run. Since 2017, SAP.iO has helped 300+ external startups and internal ventures accelerate their growth while enabling thousands of SAP customers to access innovation. For more information, visit http://sap.io/.

In Foundries, Berlin, Press Release, Technologies, Announcements

SAP.iO Foundry Berlin Kicks-Off Data & Analytics Spring Program with 5 Innovative Startups

March 18, 2022 — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) launched a data and analytics-focused virtual startup program at SAP.iO Foundry Berlin. The five selected international startups were chosen by a jury of SAP experts, partners, customers, and investment funds to join the program.

The SAP.iO Foundry Berlin Data & Analytics Spring Program dedicates itself to helping the growing need of SAP customers to get the best insights from their data. The selected startups have keen insight and expertise in data harmonization, business analytics, machine learning, and data-as-a-service – all skills that  can help achieve that goal.

“Analytics is essential but not sufficient to drive business outcomes. Yes, you can get more insights with Analytics, but the more crucial question is what you do with that information. Unless you embed these insights into your business processes and turn them into clear actions, they are just another report. For our customers, new innovative solutions are in high demand while tech talent is in short supply. These two challenges create big opportunities for startups that can take on more innovation risk as well as attract young development talent, much faster than large corporations can” said Ivo Bauermann, Senior Vice President Business Development.

Over the next 12 weeks, the startups will have access to curated mentorship from SAP executives, exposure to SAP® technology and application programming interfaces (APIs), and opportunities to collaborate with SAP customers around the world.

“Making sense of data to achieve business outcomes is getting harder and harder due to the lack of data integration. Startups can help with integrating the novel use cases for their developed applications with the traditional business processes of the costumer” said Anil Goel, Head of Technology Office.

The following startups are participating in the SAP.iO Foundry data & analytics program:

  • DABBEL offers its customers an autonomous control system for commercial buildings which is based on predictive Artificial Intelligence (AI).
  • Everyangle provides productized computer vision applications to analyze CCTV video in real time to provide high value business outcomes to protect staff, reduce fraud, reduce operational cost, and increase revenues.
  • InOrbit is the leader in RobOps at scale. They help robotics companies and enterprises across industries get the most out of autonomous robots.
  • MindBridge screens every transaction to highlight and quantify the size of the issue or problem, identifying potentially uncontrolled risks in your processes and systems.
  • QVALON is a cloud solution for retail chains operational processes management, which uses mobile application and integrations to digitalize offline data from the stores and then transform it into actions for responsible employees.

 

About SAP.iO
SAP.iO delivers new partnerships and products for SAP by accelerating and scaling startup innovation as well as incubating employee ventures. SAP.iO brings together innovators from every region, industry, and line of business to transform how businesses run. Since 2017, SAP.iO has helped 300+ external startups and internal ventures accelerate their growth while enabling thousands of SAP customers to access innovation. For more information, visit http://sap.io/.

In Foundries, Portfolio News, Awards

Two SAP.iO Startups Named to The Global Cleantech 100

SAP.iO startups FSIGHT and  Too Good To Go named to The Global Cleantech 100 list for 2022.

Who are the leading companies in cleantech today? Meet our list of innovators with the technologies and determination to take us from commitments to actions in the sprint to net zero. You’ll also discover the fast-changing market trends that give us hope of a sustainable future and the drivers behind the progress of each sector.

Download the full report here…

In Business Technology Platform, Foundries, Inclusiveness, Funding Announcement

GraphQL developer platform Hasura raises $100M Series C

Hasura, the company behind the popular open source Hasura GraphQL Engine that can turn virtually any database into a GraphQL API, today announced that it has raised a $100 million Series C funding round led by Greenoaks. Previous investors Nexus Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Vertex Ventures also participated in this round, which brings the company’s total funding to $136.5 million and its valuation to $1 billion.

As Hasura CEO and co-founder Tanmai Gopal told me, the company has seen its growth accelerate over the course of the last 18 months since it raised its $25 million Series B round. As developers are increasingly tasked to build applications on top of an ever wider range of data sources, they are looking for a service like Hasura.

“The enterprise developer is just absolutely bogged down with complexity,” he said. “They’re just completely deadlocked. They’re like, ‘man, I have like a thousand models in this legacy data system. I have a bunch of new stuff that is ML/AI enriched in this new system. I have these legacy APIs. And all I really want to do is modernize my application screen so that somebody can see their billing history.’ […] What Hasura does, is say: We make this data access self-serve. We’ll automate this. We’ll give you an API that is flexible, it’s secure and it’s an API that you love — it’s a GraphQL API — and we’ll automate that.”

Read More…

In Foundries, San Francisco, Interview

Black is the New Green

Black is the New Green showcases amazing black entrepreneurs, investors, and more talented individuals who share how they overcame challenges on their success. Episodes occur on Wednesday with audience Q&A.

Kange Kaneene, VP, SAP.iO Foundries North and Latin America is interviewed by foundry and influencer Michelle Taylor Willis.

Watch Now…

In Foundries, Interview

Analyst Cam: Kange Kaneene, VP SAP.iO Foundries North & Latin America

As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission) as part of my Analyst Cam series.

This time it is Kange Kaneene, VP, SAP.iO Foundries North and Latin America

SAP.iO is SAP’s strategic business unit to incubate startup innovation and drive new business models for SAP. SAP.iO Foundries are SAP’s startup programs, including accelerators, that enable startups that can deliver value to SAP customers. Today, there are SAP.iO Foundries in 10 strategic innovation hubs, including San Francisco, New York, Berlin, Munich, Paris, Tel Aviv, Singapore , Bangalore, Shanghai and Tokyo. Each Foundry runs one to two cohorts/programs a year, incubating 15-20 startups at each location.

Kange does a really nice job summarizing in under 15 minutes their impressive track record (started in 2017, they have incubated/accelerated over 370 startups), the value proposition for SAP customers, the startups and SAP itself. She also profiles some of the recent cohorts. She would also welcome interest from startup entrepreneurs from our audience who meet their filters.

Kange has facilitated presentations for me from several of the startup in the cohorts last year which focused on sustainability. They are presenting to me over the next couple of weeks and I will profile them in this series.

Awesome to see so much global innovation.

Watch Interview Here!

In Foundries, Singapore, HR & People Engagement

SAP Startup Spotlight: Accredify

Quah Zheng Wei is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Accredify. Zheng Wei leads the team in establishing the company’s strategic vision and direction, focusing on business development, partnerships, and sales. He started his career in BNP Paribas Investment Banking where he worked on corporate finance deals in the Energy and Natural Resources team. He later joined FOMO Pay, a payments fintech startup as the Chief Partnership Officer, and helped them grow from 120 to 2000 clients within 12 months. In this interview, he talks about what Accredify has to offer, how its solution works, and what’s next for the startup.

Read More…