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New SAP.iO Foundry Paris Promotion Shapes the Future of Retail

The eighth edition of the SAP.iO Foundry Paris program extends the company’s commitment to startups, with this round focused on the retail experience. The final selection of participating startups has just been announced, with the support program to begin in October and continue until the beginning of 2023. Odilia von Zitzewitz, Interim Lead SAP.iO Foundry Paris, said: “The start-up members of this new cohort respond in an innovative way to issues that fully concern the future of our consumption patterns. It is exciting to see them in action and to imagine building positive solutions for the future together.”

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French inventory-pooling platform Stockly raises €12 million

Stockly, the French digital platform that helps e-tailers pool and share inventory to avoid stock-outs, has announced it has raised €12 million in capital. Stockly will use the funding to expand across Europe. The funding round involved Eurazeo, the Daphni investment fund and a number of “world-class” business angels, as Stockly stated. Stockly was founded in 2018, and its solutions are already in use at Galeries LafayetteDecathlonGo SportJonak and several hundred other partners.

Stockly is able to digitally share the inventory of the various e-tailers that use its tools, boosting stock depth for each of them. The solution is invisible to customers, as the various stakeholders request neutral packaging. If a product is available from a number of different inventories, Stockly’s algorithm will decide where to source it based on price, distance to customer and service quality.

Stockly was part of Foundry Paris Consumer Industry Program.

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Global accelerators boost Swiss startups’ growth

From America to Europe: Five Swiss startups have been selected to join global acceleration programs to pursue their growth ambitions. Plug and Play has selected two startups for its food and its insurtech acceleration program. In Europe, ScanTrust, CollectID and Foodetective will get support from European Innovation Council and SAP program respectively.

The global plug and Play Accelerator provides selected startups worldwide with access to leading corporates to help catalyse their innovation, and give them access to financing and its network. The upcoming Plug and Play Silicon Valley Summit from November 15-17 will feature over 250 startups across 17 verticals. Batch 12 of the Food and Beverages vertical includes Cultivated Biosciences, the startup specialising in alternative dairy fat. The company is developing a fermented creamy ingredient from GMO-free yeast which offers the creaminess needed for plant-based dairies such as cheese, milk or ice cream.

Two Swiss startups made it into SAP’s new start-up equity-free accelerator program focused on the “Future of Retail and Consumer Products” at the SAP.iO Foundry Paris, which has already supported 65 companies in developing their solution. Over the next five months, the cohort of 12 international start-ups will get access to personalised mentoring from SAP France executives, exposure to SAP technology and application programming interfaces (APIs), as well as opportunities to collaborate with SAP customers around the world. St.Gallen-based CollectID is dedicated to fighting counterfeits through its encrypted NFC tags, which are embedded in products to guarantee authenticity, improve the phygital experience and establish a direct communication channel between brands. Foodetective is a management platform and infrastructure (API) for the F&B industry. Companies use Foodetective to automate operations, simplify administration, increase online revenues and accelerate new business opportunities.

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SAP.iO Foundry Paris launches new startup program on “Future of Retail and Consumer Products”

September 21, 2022 – SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) has launched a new startup accelerator program focused on the “Future of Retail and Consumer Products” at SAP.iO Foundry Paris. 12 international startups were selected by a jury of SAP experts, partners, customers and investment funds to join the program. These startups were recognized as pioneers in this year’s chosen field, a theme that is more topical than ever with the upheavals in customer habits and the customer journey due to effects of the pandemic and the accelerated digitalization of all businesses.  

SAP.iO Foundry Paris, SAP’s equity-free startup accelerator in France, has already helped more than 65 growth businesses develop their business or their solution. The Foundry’s efforts helped meet France’s overall startup investment goal set at the #ChooseFrance summit, France’s flagship forum for economic attractiveness. 

“SAP.iO is committed to accelerating startups to help customers run at their best. For this program, our focus is on retail, addressing the traceability and authenticity of products as well as offering consumers an improved and differentiating purchasing experience”, said Odilia von Zitzewitz, Interim Lead at SAP.iO Foundry Paris. “We are very proud to accompany this new class of startups and help them scale their innovations.” 

Over the next five months, the startups will have access to personalized mentoring from SAP France executives, exposure to SAP® technology and application programming interfaces (APIs), as well as opportunities to collaborate with SAP customers around the world. 

The following startups are participating in the latest SAP.iO Foundry Paris program: 

  1. Sorga Technology supports retail brands in their digital innovation by offering a low-energy solution ensuring the transparency and traceability of their products.
  2. Arianee provides businesses with simple solutions for building direct relationships with consumers, respectful of user data and independent of large technology platforms.
  3. CollectID can be used to guarantee product authenticity, improve the physical experience and establish a direct communication channel between brands. The solution guarantees the authenticity and uniqueness of products while bringing brands closer to their customers.
  4. DIAKSE develops and markets a solution for creating virtual showrooms in the metaverse with one objective: to enable brands to better communicate about their products and thus help them increase their sales.
  5. Foodetective is a management platform and infrastructure (API) for the F&B industry. Companies use Foodetective to automate operations, simplify administration, increase online revenues and accelerate new business opportunities.
  6. LIVEBUY GmbH is an online shopping solution for leading retailers that provides both the technology and the right creators to build a successful content platform within online shops.
  7. Priceloop has developed an AI to facilitate and automate the pricing process, offering the best prices taking into account all the essential parameters.
  8. Replika Software is a turnkey social selling solution. It enables brands to activate a network of social sellers with a turnkey business to inspire on social media, sell online and connect with customers.
  9. Shopreme GmbH is developing a technology called “Scan & Go” that brings the benefits of online shopping to real shops including speed, ease of payment, personalized recommendations, shared shopping lists, and more.
  10. SmartPixels provides a 3D product configuration and visualization tool to help fashion and luxury brands create personalized and interactive experiences online and in-store.
  11. SMARTZER LTD’s platform is used by brands to transform their videos and live streams into interactive and actionable experiences, allowing them to get direct ROI from content and measure detailed data from video interactions.
  12. YZR automates and accelerates all of its customers’ text data projects with a powerful solution based on automatic language processing.

If you want to learn more about this program, check out the SAP.iO Foundry Paris website or get in touch with the team.

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 450+ external startups and internal ventures accelerate their growth while enabling thousands of SAP customers to access innovation. For more information, visit http://sap.io/.

Oslo-based foodtech company TotalCtrl receives investment from Newday

TotalCtrl, an Oslo-based food waste prevention software company, announced recently that it has received a significant investment from Norwegian investment company Newday.. Besides Newday, existing investors, including Loyal. VC, also invested. The company says it will use the funds to accelerate its growth nationally and internationally.

TotalCtrl is a foodtech company that leverages its Inventory Management System to help the food industry optimise the planning, purchasing, and use of food inventory by providing data-driven insights and decision support to make fact-based and sustainable choices.

The company works with Halden municipality, Nordic Choice, and Bergstadens hotel – which can show good results in food waste reduction and improved profitability.

Further, TotalCtrl is a certified B corp company, which means it maintains the highest standards in social and environmental impact globally.

“Today is a big day for us at TotalCtrl. The fact that Newday, through a comprehensive process, has chosen to invest significant amounts and not least to contribute important experience, expertise, and passion – means that we can now take the company to a new level. Moreover, Newday’s investment means that TotalCtrl now has the muscle to grow”, says Charlotte Aschim, CEO of TotalCtrl.

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Milk Moovement Raises $20 Million USD To Transform the Dairy Industry’s Supply Chain

Milk Moovement, a leading cloud-based dairy supply chain software company, today announced the closing of a $20 million USD Series A round led by VMG Catalyst, the venture capital firm that invests in technology powering the next generation of retail and consumer businesses. The new funding will help accelerate product development and adoption of Milk Moovement among leading dairy businesses in North America.

The over $600 billion global dairy industry has yet to experience a major digital transformation, and the finite delivery windows of a perishable product and constantly shifting consumer preferences make the industry ripe for disruption. Milk Moovement’s technology platform brings the industry from pen-to-paper and legacy systems to the cloud – creating full supply chain visibility for dairy farmers and their distribution partners to track and route shipments in real-time, optimize delivery schedules, and ultimately create a significant decrease in food waste and loss of profits.

“We constantly seek out the best and brightest talent to join us as we build market-leading products and partner with dairy industry leaders,” said CEO and Co-Founder Robert Forsythe. “This latest round of funding is a major win for our employees and investors, but most importantly it allows us to support our incredible partners in getting the right milk to the right place at the right time.”

“VMG Catalyst immediately saw the value Milk Moovement brings to the dairy industry, in particular given a heightened focus on the fragility of global supply chains and the corresponding impact on consumer goods,” said Carle Stenmark, General Partner at VMG Catalyst. “Real-time data transparency is critical for managing perishables and provides tremendous benefit to all the constituents in the dairy value chain. We’re looking forward to seeing even broader adoption of the company’s innovative software platform, and the positive change it creates for the industry.”

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Micro-climate technology startup Sencrop raises $18 million led by JVP, will expand into Israel

The French company, whose data-driven precision app enables more than 20,000 farmers to have a crop-oriented vision of the weather conditions, disease and pest risks, and their irrigation needs, will open an extension in the International Foodtech Center in the Galilee

French startup Sencrop, which develops micro-climate technology, announced on Tuesday that it has raised an $18 million Series B fundraising round led by Israeli venture capital firm JVP, as part of the VC fund’s climate and foodtech initiative. EIT Food, supported by the European Union, Stellar Impact (managed by Telos Impact), IRD Management, and Sencrop’s existing shareholders, including BPIfrance, Demeter IM, and NCI Waterstart, are also taking part in the transaction. JVP’s investment was led by General Partner Gadi Porat and Director of Investments Alexandre Dahan.

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TRIGO Group has acquired the industrial start-up SCORTEX

TRIGO Group has acquired the industrial start-up SCORTEX – forming an alliance of a Deep Tech operation specialising in Artificial Intelligence with the world leader in quality consulting and inspection services within the transportation and industrial sectors.

TRIGO Group, the world’s leading provider of inspection, consulting and quality engineering services to the transportation industry, owned by the Ardian investment fund, announced today the acquisition of the French start-up SCORTEX that specialises in Artificial Intelligence – or AI – applied to automated quality control. This transaction is in line with the Group’s strategy and allows TRIGO to further strengthen its position as industrial innovationists. TRIGO will invest five million Euros in SCORTEX in 2022 and will double the workforce of its new entity.

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Innovative supply chain solution secures £5m in funding to expand in Europe

Flowlity, an innovative AI-based supply chain planning and forecasting solution, has secured £5 million in funding, led by Fortino Capital, to expand throughout Europe. The funding will be used to accelerate its development with the aim to becoming an industry leader by providing innovate ways of reducing waste across the entire supply chain – enabling companies to save money and reduce their carbon footprint.

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Radancy Announces Acquisition of Firstbird – A Global Leader in SAAS Based Employee Referral Programs

Radancy, the global talent technology leader, is pleased to announce its plans to acquire Firstbird, a global leader in SaaS based employee referral programs. Based in Vienna, Austria, Firstbird offers a comprehensive software solution to digitize and streamline the employee referral process. The acquisition of Firstbird is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including certain regulatory approvals.

This strategic acquisition combines Firstbird’s innovative referral technology with Radancy’s unified talent acquisition platform. Together, they will provide global clients with enhanced touchpoints along the entire candidate journey, connecting people to careers and companies with qualified candidates to solve their most critical talent acquisition challenges.

“From the first meeting I knew Firstbird checked every box for us. The people, the technology and the opportunity to expand Radancy’s reach within the DACH market made this a perfect match,” said Michelle Abbey, President and CEO of Radancy. “I’m excited to integrate their technology into our global unified platform and continue to transform talent acquisition for our customers.”

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SAP.iO Foundry Paris Launches Its New Program: Sustainability in the Service Industries

January 11, 2022 — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today launched a startup program focused on sustainability as part of the 7th edition of SAP.iO Foundry Paris. Eight international startups have been selected by a jury of SAP experts, partners, customers and investment funds to join the program.

SAP.iO Foundry Paris, SAP’s startup acceleration unit in France, has already supported more than 50 startups. In three years, SAP has achieved the goal set at the #ChooseFrance summit with the French government in 2018 to support the startup economy.

This new program focuses on four topics related to different issues concerning sustainability in the service industries:

  • Responsible design and production
  • Responsible sourcing
  • Resource recovery and re-use
  • Responsible consumption

Sébastien Gibier, Director of SAP.iO Foundry Paris, said: “SAP.iO has always been a great incubator for startups. This year, the focus on sustainability will allow scale-ups to amplify their impact. SAP France is delighted to continue this program focused on innovation. We are particularly pleased to have met our objectives set with the government.”

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

The following startups are participating in the SAP.iO Foundry Paris program:

  • ACTRADIS assists companies in the compilation, verification and digitization of documents on a sharing platform.
  • bloXmove is a decentralized mobility blockchain platform that provides easy-to-integrate interfaces for verifying identities and credentials, smart contracts and revenue distribution.
  • Cozero offers a digital carbon action platform covering the end-to-end carbon management process of companies to optimize their environmental and economic footprint throughout the supply chain.
  • HESUS provides solutions for the transport and treatment of soil and construction waste, while reducing their environmental impact.
  • Leanpath provides a comprehensive food waste prevention platform – including measurement, discovery and automation tools – enabling partner customers to reduce food waste by 50% or more in more than 40 countries.
  • Liftango guides international organizations and cities in planning, launching and implementing shared mobility projects. It solves parking, congestion and zoning problems by improving the efficiency of transportation services through on-demand transportation technology.
  • Madaster offers a cloud platform that provides a single point of access to leverage real estate data to meet environmental, regulatory, health and financial ambitions throughout the lifecycle of the object.
  • TotalCtrl creates digital products in collaboration with restaurants, hotels, municipalities and individuals to eliminate manual processes, streamline food inventory management, easily generate monthly cost of goods sold and accounting reports.

About SAP.iO
SAP.iO delivers new partnerships and products for SAP by accelerating and scaling startup innovation as well as incubating employee businesses. SAP.iO brings together innovators from all regions, industries and sectors to transform the way businesses work. Since 2017, SAP.iO has helped 380+ external startups and internal ventures accelerate their growth while enabling thousands of SAP customers to access to innovation. For more information, visit http://sap.io/.

London’s learning management system Looop acquired by 360Learning for $20 million

arisian collaborative learning platform 360Learning has acquired Looop for $20 million in a mix of cash and shares. 360Learning received a strong vote of confidence last October when it announced a $200 million investment round co-led by Sumeru, SoftBank, and Silver Lake Waterman, and M&A activities were specifically mentioned. The Looop acquisition marks a first for the company, with presumably more announcements in the future.

Having had a front-row seat to the damage that substandard learning and development programmes can have on business, staff morale, and productivity, in 2014 Ben Muzzell and Dan Gray set out to build a better mousetrap. Employing a series of automations, Looop is a learning management system that eschews the repetitive manual work from the process, resulting in an embedded process that allows teams to create resources with as much, or as little, content as desired, sourced from any input, and delivered when needed.

In doing so, that mousetrap has struck a chord, as Looop reports consistently achieving outstanding satisfaction ratings on eLearning platforms including Capterra (4.9/5), G2 (4.9/5), and eLearning Industry (97%), and has become the defacto L&D provider to companies including Klarna, Monzo, Cazoo, and ASOS. If the credentials don’t already speak for themselves, Looop reports an annual growth rate of 100%, all while being cash flow positive.

From 360Learning’s perspective, the acquisition couldn’t happen at a better time. As the effects of the pandemic continue to play out, companies around the globe are beginning to see the Great Resignation kicking into gear and are pumping huge amounts of capital into talent retention, least of which, learning and development programmes. How much capital? According to Market and Markets, over the next four years, corporate spending on L&D will surge from the $15.8 billion seen in 2021 to a robust $37.9 billion by 2026.

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Maven leads £5.5 million funding round for transport tech platform Liftango

Liftango’s carpool platform helps larger employers and academic institutions to internally match drivers and passengers in real-time to minimise their carbon footprint, reduce parking congestion and create a convenient shared transport experience to and from offices or campuses.

The new investment should help the business take advantage of commercial opportunities in the transport sector, by recruiting several key sales and marketing staff as it looks to scale its operations in Europe and across North America.

Martin McLaren, investment director at Maven, said: “We are seeing a notable shift towards DRT solutions as organisations across the world seek to address parking, congestion, zoning and environmental issues attributed to transport.

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