SAP.iO startups Lizee & Heuritech were named as two of the top 70 early-stage startups that are spurring innovation beyond traditional e-commerce platforms by CB Insights.
Startups developing virtual enablement platforms, new materials, and metaverse tech are looking to make the $387B luxury retail industry more sustainable and engaging for younger generations.
Sustainability has become a business imperative. Consumers, investors, regulators, and employees are all increasingly demanding socially, environmentally, and economically responsible products and services that have been designed, produced, used, and recycled with circularity principles in mind. At SAP, we are convinced that technology will help to turn this challenge into a big opportunity for companies that lead the way. That is why we launched SAP Cloud for Sustainable Enterprises, with dedicated solutions to provide the transparency that is urgently needed to enable a circular economy.
Our consumption of natural resources has devastating effects for humans, wildlife, and the planet. It is more urgent than ever to shift from linear take-make-waste models to a circular economy, where waste and pollution are designed out, products and materials are kept in use for longer, and natural systems can regenerate. A circular economy isn’t just about fixing environmental wrongs; it is about making sustainability profitable and profitability sustainable across industries, sectors, and lives.
The packaging sector is a good example. According to Statista, more than 130 billion parcels were shipped in 2020, and the number is rising. This packaging frustrates retailers and consumers and causes untold environmental damage. The good news is that circular business principles such as designing for reuse and recycling are gaining ground in the industry.
One exemplary company is LimeLoop, which offers retailers everything they need, including reusable packaging, reverse logistics, visibility, and analytics. As a result of its unique approach, LimeLoop has helped divert more than 1 million single-use packages from landfills. Its customers report a 53% increase in customer engagement, 93% savings on resources, including trees, water, and oil, and 41% savings on packaging and inventory.
Rental, repair, and resale models are also gaining ground in the retail industry. Furniture manufacturer and retailer IKEA has launched several resale pilots in the last few years. Lizee, the re-commerce software company, is on a mission to “transform the retail industry from linear to circular” by helping retailers move from selling to renting and reselling. Its clients, which include brands such as Decathlon and adidas, don’t have to start from scratch to build a rental and resale business model. Lizee provides the technology systems that will help them become even more successful in e-commerce and more sustainable at the same time.
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 Daniela Schiffer
Daniela Schiffer started studying art and worked as an artist until 2007 with the hope that art would be a tool she could use to influence change in society. After some time, she realized to achieve her goals she would need to find another way to influence behavior change. Working with an advertising agency doing a lot of communication primarily for high tech and renewable energy companies, she saw a different path forward. Daniela grew changers.com to address the issue of behavior change in terms of climate control, looking to incentivize and motivate sustainable and healthy behavior. Not a small undertaking by any means, this task takes perseverance and, at times, nerves of steel.
Today, Daniela Schiffer is Co-founder and CEO of Changers.com, a company that looks to change behavior through its CO2 Fit app. This app motivates employees to use a bicycle instead of a car, walk more often, use public transport, and participate in eco-friendly and healthy activities. Here employees learn more about waste reduction, healthy nutrition, energy-saving, and address green mobility. Changers is doing so by building an ecosystem for climate currency, meaning that by saving CO2, you earn climate coins to spend in their marketplace for products and services with partners. Changers was recognized as a EUPD TOP BRAND in workplace health promotion and by the Solarimpulse Foundation for efficient climate protection.
“I want to motivate people, not by showing them all the threats to the future, but by showing them how they can positively impact change by simple changes in behavior.”
Read more and watch highlights of Alexa and Daniela’s discussion here.
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:
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/.
The latest SAP Fashion Customer Council took place online on April 7th, 2022, where 25 of SAP’s strategic customers in fashion came together to discuss the industry’s latest innovations and pain points, with sustainability front and center on the runway. SAP.iO startups CarbonClick and Shippeo were chosen to present their comprehensive solutions that are solving SAP fashion customers’ biggest challenges, and most importantly, shared how their solutions are leading the way to a more sustainable future.
What if you knew the true cost of your clothing? Not just the price of the tag, but the cost to the planet as well? What if you can discover the amount of water, carbon emissions, chemicals, and water saved by each of your purchases? Did you know that one t-shirt takes an average of 700 gallons of water to produce? That’s enough clean water for one person to drink for three years. With the global textile market expected to hit $1.23 trillion by 2025, less than 1% of the material used to make clothing is recycled.
Now there’s a way to discover the sustainability score of each of your purchases via Queen of Raw’s marketplace. Queen of Raw now calculates the water, toxins, carbon emission, and waste saved by upcycling the $288 billion worth of excess textiles (raw materials and finished goods) rather than manufacturing new ones. Presented with sustainability metrics backed with authenticity on the blockchain, consumers can have a more engaging journey.
“Consumers want to see sustainability metrics when making sales decisions, and in fact, 43% Gen-Zers seek out companies with a solid sustainability reputation. With $360B in disposable income, this seems like a significant opportunity for brands and retailers,” Stephanie Benedetto, co-founder, and CEO, Queen of Raw, told CoinGeek.
Queen of Raw, together with MIT Solve, released a no-code mobile e-commerce impact measuring tool on the blockchain. The Fabric Footprint Impact Report meets the increasing consumer demand for greater transparency. It allows buyers, sellers, and consumers to see sustainability metrics quickly and easily where they can make informed choices with the swipe of a smartphone, track progress, and get rewarded for brand engagement. The impact report is also available to brands as a white-labeled offering, with a single sign-in for ease of use.
“The Fabric Footprint Impact Report empowers all participants across the supply chain in real-time and utilizes impact-analysis technology that requires no more than a smartphone to access,” Phil Derasmo, Co-Founder and CTO of Queen of Raw, said. “Removing any guesswork and keeping track of environmental and economic progress while accessing a trusted network, so companies can solve a very real problem in the face of climate change quickly, easily, and cost-effectively with no-code,” because everyone needs to understand the impact of their purchasing decisions.
SAP and Unilever today announced a pilot of the GreenToken by SAP solution to further increase traceability and transparency in Unilever’s global palm oil supply chain.
It’s safe to say that for most consumers, any thought of “manufacturing” lives and dies on whatever store shelf they decide to grab their shampoo from. But there’s a lot — LOT — more that goes into any good reaching that shelf in the first place. Unfortunately, the process is so complex that a lot of important data gets muddied thanks to the often outdated process used to track it. David Klein, Co-founder and President of Inspectorio, is out to change that.
Walmart Canada is the first major retailer in Canada to offer carbon-neutral last mile delivery for e-commerce purchases sold and shipped by Walmart, including online grocery.
This Walmart-funded program will offset an estimated 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of taking over 5,000 cars off the road, in its first year. This program is incremental to Walmart’s global ambition to achieve Zero Emissions by 2040 without the use of offsets for scope 1 and 2 emissions. Funding carbon offsets for last-mile delivery of e-commerce purchases, including online grocery, allows Walmart Canada to make an immediate impact while working with our third-party carriers to reduce emissions along with us.
Carbon offsets allow companies and consumers to fund projects that reduce the effects of climate change, compensating for the emissions created from actions like transportation. Walmart has engaged EcoCart, a sustainability technology company, to calculate and validate the emissions created from online orders and to purchase carbon offset credits from high-quality projects in the exact dollar amount required to reduce or avoid those emissions.
“Funding carbon offsets for last-mile delivery in our eCommerce operations is an opportunity for Walmart to make an impact today as we work towards becoming a regenerative company and eliminating emissions across our business,” explains Laurent Duray, SVP, eCommerce, Walmart Canada. “Minimizing the environmental impact of the last mile has been top of mind as customer behaviour has shifted towards increased reliance on our fast, easy and convenient delivery options for grocery and online orders.”
The projects Walmart’s offsets will support are aligned with the company’s journey to becoming a regenerative company and will support a portfolio of Canadian-based initiatives that work to either actively remove carbon from the atmosphere or prevent future carbon from being emitted. The project portfolio is projected to include initiatives that protect forests, enable composting and waste diversion, aid with refrigerant management, and turn biomass into fuel. These Walmart-supported projects will also ensure they benefit the communities as part of their scope with key economic and environmental elements such as providing jobs, education opportunities, or protecting endangered species and biodiversity.
EcoCart is proud to collaborate with Walmart Canada as they become the first major retailer in Canada to offer a carbon-neutral last-mile delivery,” said Peter Twomey, COO, EcoCart. “It’s so exciting to see industry leaders like Walmart work toward a more sustainable future that benefits everyone. By funding offsets on behalf of their customers for last-mile delivery, Walmart is making a positive impact on our collective efforts to regenerate the environment.”
Along with calculating and validating Walmart’s last-mile emissions and sourcing and vetting high-quality carbon offset projects, EcoCart will also be providing quarterly impact and emissions reporting. This reporting will allow Walmart to track estimated emissions and establish benchmarks for its third-party carrier partners.
Consumers are increasingly pushing for sustainable business practices in retail, driving businesses to reassess what they produce — and how. From ingredient upcycling to plastic alternatives to smart trash cans, we look at the technologies placing sustainability at the center of retail products and processes.
It’s no secret that industries in the retail sector are some of the most wasteful and polluting in the world. The fashion industry, for example, generates over 92M metric tons of waste every year. Meanwhile, global food waste totals around 1.6B metric tons.
Consumers are increasingly demanding change. Fifty-two percent of textile industry experts say consumers are driving the heightened focus on sustainability in fashion, which includes more transparent supply chains, alternative materials, and secondhand shopping. Similarly, 65% of consumers say they want food products that are sustainable, from alternative proteins to compostable packaging.
Regulatory agencies are also driving the shift to a circular economy focused on waste reduction. For example, the European Union is creating a strategy for sustainable textiles that aims to create products that are more durable, reusable, recyclable, and energy-efficient. It’s set to be adopted in early 2022. In the US, President Joe Biden signed an executive order in 2021 directing federal institutions to draft regulations that protect the consumer’s right to repair electronic devices and other tools. This could reduce electrical waste and lengthen product life cycles.
The shift to a circular economy will doubtlessly pose major challenges for retailers, but it’s also a massive opportunity — and new tech solutions are emerging all the time to make the transition easier. From resale platforms to regenerative farming to autonomous delivery vehicles, we examine how technology is shaping the future of sustainable retail.
White-label solutions in the rental space allow brands to easily set up their own renting operations. For instance, Paris-based Lizee allows brands to enter the circular economy by renting (or reselling) their inventory. The company, which has worked with the likes of Adidas and Decathlon, helps power all the logistics associated with resale or rental operations.
An innovative solution for single-use plastic packaging comes from Chile-based Algramo. Its circular platform allows users to purchase bottles for cleaning products, refill them in a store with a smart Algramo dispenser, and pay for the product using an app. In 2020, the company launched in the US by installing dispensers in vending machines around New York City.
On a global scale, manufacturers can resell deadstock fabrics on the online marketplace Queen of Raw. To date, the platform has supported 325,000 buyers and sellers around the world, boasting partnerships with brands such as H&M and LVMH.
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:
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:
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/.
November 25, 2021 — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today launched a sustainability-focused virtual startup program at SAP.iO Foundry Singapore. Six international startups have been selected by a jury of SAP experts and partners to join the program.
New ideas and innovative solutions are essential to uncover the impact of emissions and waste across every facet of a business. The selected startups use next generation technologies to drive sustainability outcomes for companies across Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ), in areas such as climate action, circular economy, and socially responsible supply chains.
Over the next 13 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.
“Achieving our sustainability goals will require all of us to work together at pace, as our planet’s time is running out,” says Paul Marriott, President SAP Asia Pacific and Japan. “Initiatives such as this SAP.iO Foundry program are critical in identifying, enabling, and promoting innovative solutions that can change how our customers’ business is run, and ultimately the impact we have on the world. This program not only helps start-ups accelerate their growth, but it’s also one of the quickest ways to bring the latest innovation to thousands of our customers globally.”
The following startups are participating in the sustainability in APJ program:
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 330+ external startups and internal ventures accelerate their growth while enabling thousands of SAP customers to access innovation. For more information, visit https://sap.io/.
Just before the official launch of the climate conference, members of Prince Charles’ Sustainable Markets Initiative Fashion Taskforce — which includes the chief executives of Chloé, Mulberry, Vestiaire Collective, Selfridges and others — committed at the G20 meeting in Rome to begin using a technology they say will revolutionise transparency in the industry. The digital ID technology was enabled in part by startup Eon, and is anticipated to both inform customers of the sustainability credentials of their products and accelerate progress towards circularity.
In collaboration with the United Nations Office for Partnerships and PVBLIC Foundation, the campaign showcases women who are shaping the new era of fashion for people and the planet.
The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, is currently being held in Glasgow, Scotland under the co-presidency of the United Kingdom and Italy. The focus of the conference is to work towards securing global net zero by mid-century keeping 1.5 degrees within reach, adapting to protect communities and natural habitats, mobilizing finance, and working together to accelerate an action plan. It is a topic that is of utmost importance and we see action being taken globally across all types of businesses and industries to use innovations to support more sustainable ways to live and do business.
An economic transformation is underway that can be attributed to new sustainability practices, a call to action that is changing the future of business. Regulatory committees, investors, consumers, and employees increasingly call for more socially, environmentally, and economically responsible goods and services. The market is seeing consumers requesting sustainable products and services through their buying behavior. Evidence to which we can see in the numbers. According to a STERN Center for Sustainability Business report, products marketed as sustainable grew more than five times faster than conventionally marketed products and three times faster than the CPG market. When given choice, today’s consumer is more likely to select the more environmentally responsible option.
Sustainability has become a critical topic for enterprises to reduce emissions and waste, increase circularity, and use socially responsible practices throughout product lifecycles. Simply put, business leaders are listening to the customers’ call to buy sustainable products and are looking to address how to make sustainability profitable. Accenture’s CEO study confirmed that 99% of CEOS from companies with $1+ Billion in annual revenues believe sustainability is important to the future success of their business. When it comes to the workforce, research into workplace priorities of Millennial and Generation Z employees has found they rank sustainability as a leading concern when evaluating the companies they choose for employment. Sustainability matters, from the products you make and how you make them, to the type of talent you can attract can all hinge on your company’s sustainability model.
Even federal governments are stepping in to take action. Recently an alliance of German companies, including SAP, called for more tangible measures for climate protection from the federal government. The companies said in a joint statement that Germany must be put on a “clear, reliable and predictable path to climate neutrality.” Besides SAP, other participants include Allianz Insurance, Eon, Bayer, Adidas, General Electrics, Deutsche Post, and Ikea. With governments requesting action, there is a huge opportunity to engage technologies that optimize carbon emissions, increase operational efficiency by activation of circular business processes, and connect with socially responsible partners to help organizations make better informed decisions.
Among CEOs that see sustainability as a driver in the future is SAP’s own Christian Klein, stating, “Sustainability is no longer optional but has become key to the long-term success of any business. It’s about defining new competitive advantages, lowering risks, building resilience to pricing regulations, gaining ground with investors, and being ahead of emerging consumer demands.” Earlier this year, SAP launched its Chasing Zero movement focused on using the power of technology to create a world of ZERO emissions, ZERO waste, and ZERO inequality. In support of SAP’s initiative and in response to new sustainability requirements of the market, SAP.iO engages globally with the latest startup innovations to deliver on the vision of helping customers gain insights into their carbon footprints, material flows, and diversity and inclusion initiatives.
From the consumer to the enterprise to federal government action, our startup innovation has it covered. The SAP.iO team has the privilege of partnering with startups whose technology assists organizations as they shift their priority towards sustainability. During our partnership with these companies, we bring them together with SAP customers and can learn firsthand what resonates and what solutions meet the industry’s ever-changing needs. Alone this year’s fall / winter cohorts support a wide variety of sustainability goals:
This past spring SAP.iO Foundries Berlin & Munich teamed up with Accenture on a Sustainability focused startup program to help address critical challenges across industries and create a positive impact on both society and business. The main objective of our collaboration was to attract the world’s most talented founders by providing the perfect environment to grow their business. Combining Accenture’s industry expertise and specialized skills, with leading SAP technologies, expert mentors, and APIs, we will be able to jointly identify innovative use cases and startups that have the potential to transform our global economy into one that benefits all stakeholders. You can take a closer look at the innovative companies that participated here. In working with Accenture and our startups we were able glean important information which we compiled in our thought leadership paper entitled: Sustainability: The Next Digital.
How is this done? How do we begin to steer the ship in a direction that will meet all our sustainability goals? In working with SAP customers and SAP.iO startups, we’ve seen that the desire to impact this matter coupled with the innovative technology needed to turn the tide, but it must be looked at as a journey instead of a destination. Industries and companies are at different stages of maturity, with requirements in other areas across teams. The challenge is how to make sustainability profitable.
The good news is as an SAP customer you can act now; you don’t have to wait; we can help move you along this journey faster. How? We start by initiating an innovation session to define and prioritize the critical sustainability areas. Then we leverage our experience and startup ecosystem to discover innovative solutions specifically for your business and provide the opportunity to meet with startups to learn about their solutions. Then you can pilot and implement startup solutions that will help achieve your sustainability ambitions.
This post was originally published by Alexa Gorman on LinkedIn. To learn more about SAP.iO sustainability programs, you can visit sap.io/sustainability.
