Technologies Archives • SAP.iO

Kelli Kohout In Supply Chain Management, Technologies, Inspiring Innovators, Foundries, Blog, Interview

Inspiring Innovators: Paula Paw Co-CEO of VersaFleet, On Being Tenacious

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, and 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 Paula Paw

Just four days after submitting her last exam paper, Paula Paw was offered a job at VersaFleet. Paula joined VersaFleet as a pioneering team member and played a central role in its growth journey. Graduating from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences, she started her career at VersaFleet in Sales and Marketing. Over the course of 6 years, she was promoted to Senior Sales Executive, Regional Sales Manager, Head of Sales Strategy & Operations Planning, and now leads the company as Co-Chief Executive Officer.

VersaFleet is a transport management software that optimizes route plans and fully digitalizes supply chains, all the way to the last mile. At VersaFleet, Paula now focuses on accelerating VersaFleet’s growth and synchronizing essential company functions, from sales & marketing, product design, and engineering, to finance and people operations. The company’s mission is to provide technology for all transporters — in any industry, market, or country. They built VersaFleet in hopes that the technology would enable the unsung heroes of logistics to get home in time for dinner.

“The goal for the coming years is to establish a stronger market presence so that we can serve the brands that face difficult challenges. When we help them, it will have a trickle-down effect, and the drivers will ultimately benefit; we are hoping to create a better work-life balance.”

Inspiring Innovators: Dustin Feld Co-Founder & Managing Director of adiutaByte on turning science into solutions

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 Dustin Feld

When he was a child, Dustin Feld loved computers. He started programing before he learned another language, using his family’s old computer. “I can honestly say I wanted to grow up to be what I am today,” Dustin said, reflecting on what he thought he would be when he grew up.

Dustin studied mathematics and computer science at the University of Cologne, specializing in graph theory and layout, discrete mathematics, and numerics. Calling himself a “professional nerd,” Dustin focuses on efficient implementation and development of algorithms — especially mathematical optimization algorithms — in time-critical scenarios. He spent 10 years as a research assistant at Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing, then a Ph.D. student, and finally as a Post-Doc & Senior Scientist. This path set Dustin up perfectly to take on the role of algorithm lead and managing director of adiutaByte.

At adiutaByte he is responsible for the algorithmic backends and the algorithm design architecture. adiutaByte develops optimization algorithms for tour and personnel planning, digitizing processes, and reducing planning time and costs. The platform combines the best of both worlds: specialized human knowledge with algorithmic strength in mathematical optimization. A notable adiutaByte customer is the City of Berlin, which uses the technology for waste disposal and recycling, relying on adiutaByte for their optimization and powerful AI.

“We saw this crisis in the healthcare industry and knew our solution was really unique, patented worldwide, and has something special that can help in high tech areas like CPU manufacturing and here in the healthcare sector. And that’s how we started, with four founders, in one office, and with no clients, but with this inspiring core technology.”

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

Kelli Kohout In Technologies, Inspiring Innovators, Foundries, Blog, Video

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.

Corinna Schmidt 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

Bringoz – Intelligent delivery and distribution management system
Craft.co – Build a more resilient supply chain through deeper supplier intelligence
numi solutions GmbH – Enabling integrated and intelligent Supply Chain Decisions
Tacto – We build sustainable supply chains

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

Milkman Technologies – Last-Mile is the new Retail

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/.

Corinna Schmidt 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.

SAP.iO In Technologies, Press, Portfolio News

How VNTANA Is Helping Save Retail With Augmented Reality

In mere months, COVID-19 propelled us five years into the future when it comes to digital adoption, according to global consulting firm McKinsey.

You can see this playing out across industries. Restaurants are improving online ordering and delivery capabilities. Telehealth is increasingly available for patients who need it. Online learning has become a mandatory option for students of all ages. On and on and on.

“Digital trends were already picking up steam,” said Ashley Crowder, CEO and cofounder of VNTANA. “But COVID-19 has brought everything to the fore now. What used to be a nice-to-have is now a must-have.”

SAP Startup Spotlight: ARpalus

SAP invests in a lot of promising startups, and it’s sometimes hard to keep track of all of them. E-3 Magazine has selected the most interesting companies to showcase in our SAP Startup Spotlight Series. In this article, we will take a look at ARpalus.

E-3 Magazine talked to ARpalus about what its solution has to offer, how it relates to existing SAP systems, and what’s next for the company.

What exactly does ARpalus offer?

ARpalus helps CPG companies and retailers optimize their in-store operations and product availability using real-time computer-vision on tablets and smartphones to monitor store availability issues such as missing products or out of stock planogram compliance. Let’s assume, for example, that a retail chain with 200 stores generates annual revenue of US$5 billion, and at any given time, there is a 5 percent out of stock (OoS). If this chain’s assortment is 40,000 SKUs, 5 percent means 2,000 SKUs that are constantly missing from the shelves. Let’s assume that this OoS problem leads to a 2 percent loss of sale; this translates to a huge loss of US$100M in potential revenues. At ARpalus, we believe that the unique combination of computer vision and augmented reality is key to a more efficient and automated retail space. Perfect retail execution eliminates manual or semi-manual methods that are commonly used today among CPGs and retailers. At first, we help our customers get visibility regarding the daily stores’ operations by the granularity of a shelf, category, SKU, store, or geographical location. This helps us better understand the trends inside the organization and to then generate recommendations. In a later stage, we generate recommendations directly to employees’ devices, based on data from nearby stores – all in real time.

H&M, Microsoft, PVH Corp Collaborate in Circular Fashion Initiative

H&M, Target, PVH Corp, Microsoft, Waste Management and others have collaborated on CircularID, an initiative designed to promote circularity by creating a new standard for communicating information about fashion products. The project would provide access to information such as materials, origin, authenticity, price, style and recycling instructions that stay with goods throughout their life.

CircularID™ is a Digital Identity standard that enables products to consistently communicate and share information about themselves essential for identification and management of the products and materials in the circular economy.

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SAP.iO In Blog, Berlin, Technologies

SaaS, Blockchain and Aviation: Is a New Tech Era on the Horizon?

Since its inception, blockchain has been hailed for its disruptive potential in the finance sector. Convinced that blockchain is on the brink of transforming more than just the finance industry, Artiona Bogo, Blockchain Software Engineer and Business Developer at the SAP Innovation Center Network, as well as jury member for the Aviation Blockchain Challenge shared her thoughts on where blockchain can truly add value:

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