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In Berlin, Featured, Public Services, Announcements

SAP.iO Foundry Berlin Kicks Off Startup Program to Support Digital Transformation in the Public Sector

June 20, 2023 – SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced it has launched its next startup program focused on Public Services and Government Technology (GovTech) at SAP.iO Foundry Berlin. After months of scouting globally, five startups were chosen to join the program with the aim of addressing the needs of the public sector.

The public sector is facing many challenges in today’s environment. Outdated technology often makes it difficult to provide efficient and comprehensive services to citizens. Agility is key to responding quickly to the latest challenges and mitigate their impact. Thus, innovation is crucial as it enables public sector entities to personalize and automate processes and make predictions by leveraging data. The SAP.iO Foundry Berlin Public Services & GovTech program is focused on accelerating the digital transformation journey of SAP customers, including public sector entities. The selected startups have keen insight and expertise in citizen communication, social and environmental risk prediction, data democratization, government engagement, payments and more.

Over the next 6 months, 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.

The following startups are participating in the SAP.iO Foundry Public Services & GovTech program:

  1. Urban Footprint is a resilient decision intelligence platform enabling a more efficient, equitable, and resilient future through powerful geospatial data insights.
  2. Citibeats‘ ethical artificial intelligence platform harnesses collective intelligence and incorporates insights from citizens into decision-making processes, helping institutions to make better, faster, and more efficient decisions.
  3. Opendatasoft is a global leader in the democratization of data and allows users to create their own data experiences with Opendatasoft’s all-in-one platform.
  4. Convaise provides an intuitive and effective way of interacting with governments by leveraging their no-code software platform to help governments build intelligent chat assistants on their own.
  5. PayIt delivers a digital platform that allows government agencies to streamline operations and offer residents a single profile to interact with state, local, and provincial governments.

SAP customers who want to support this cohort can expect to dive right into curated innovation and design thinking workshops, close collaboration on use case definitions, proof of concepts, and ready-to-implement integrations on SAP solutions at the end of the program.

If you want to learn more about how you can get involved and benefit from this cohort, check out the SAP.iO Foundry Berlin website. If you want to dive deeper, contact the team.

About SAP.iO
SAP.iO curates a relevant and diverse startup ecosystem that extends the value of SAP solutions and meets the continuously evolving needs of our customers. Our programs provide dedicated support to the most promising startups as they launch and scale relationships with SAP and our global network of customers, partners, and employees. Since 2017, we have connected thousands of SAP customers with innovative enterprise software startups, helping them find solutions to their unique needs. For more information, visit http://sap.io/.  

In Supply Chain Management, Awards

RealWear Wins Best Manufacturing and Industrial Solution at XR Today Awards 2023

RealWear, the pioneer of assisted reality wearable solutions for frontline industrial professionals, has won ‘Best Manufacturing and Industrial Solution’ at the XR Today Awards 2023. The annual XR Awards celebrate the best in AR/VR/MR innovation, and the online event invites international firms and individuals to come forward to showcase their achievements in the immersive industry. The win follows RealWear being named ‘Best Industrial Solution’, ‘Best Construction Solution’ and ‘Best Automotive Solution’ at last year’s awards.

Out of the almost 400 entries for this year’s event, only 16 applicants walked away a winner. XR Today gathered an esteemed group of industry professionals to judge the event; each selected expert representing a wealth of industry insight and diversity. This year’s judges included Amy LaMeyer, the Managing Partner of the WXR Fund, Amy Peck, the Founder & CEO of EndeavorXR, Sophia Moshasha, the VP of the VR/AR Association’s DC Chapter, Dr Faisal Mushtaq, Associate Director of the Centre for Immersive Technologies, Amelia Kallman, London Futurist, Speaker, Author, Tom Ffiske of Immersive Wire, Yanna Zhu, a Metaverse & XR Specialist at BCG, and Jay Latta, an Emerging Technology Strategist.

“We’re immensely proud of our continued industry recognition. Having won in three separate categories just last year, and now being recognized as the Best Manufacturing and Industrial Solution, it’s a testament to our customer-focused solution strategy,” stated Jon Arnold, Vice President of EMEA at RealWear. “This recognition from XR Today highlights the substantial value we bring to our customers through our innovative solutions. RealWear’s unwavering commitment to delivering cutting-edge assisted reality solutions for the manufacturing and industrial sectors has played a pivotal role in securing this prestigious accolade.”

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In CRM & Customer Experience

Jebbit Launches AI-Powered Interactive Digital Experiences

Jebbit, the provider of the world’s first zero-party data and customer experience platform, announced the launch of its new AI-powered Experience Generator and Language Translation capabilities, accelerating the ability for businesses to build meaningful connections with audiences across all channels. The innovative features allow marketers to build Jebbit experiences – personalized interactive quizzes, trivia and surveys – in seconds, then translate them into multiple languages with the click of a button, enabling brands to quickly scale globally.

Generative AI has dominated 2023, with Forrester reporting that the global artificial intelligence software market is expected to reach $126 billion by 2025. As with disruptive consumer data privacy regulations in the past, and industry-shifting technology like AI, Jebbit always strives to remain on the right side of marketing; that is, prioritizing consumer trust and experience. Jebbit’s new AI-powered experiences strategically balance intelligent technology with human judgment to edit, analyze and personalize data in a way that improves online experiences, while improving speed-to-market. In contrast, many companies leverage AI in data targeting small population sizes and then extrapolate that to the masses without deeper insights.

Jebbit’s AI-powered Experience Generator and Language Translation capabilities have been extensively beta-tested by customers and volunteers in order to provide real-world feedback and to inform future capabilities. One such future capability is AI-Assist,  coming soon across the Jebbit platform, to equip users with AI-powered assistance in creating content such as informed product recommendations, question generation, guidance on rephrasing questions, and the ability to automatically leverage design elements from a website (text, colors, images).

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In Supply Chain Management

Revuze Unveils Revuze Alerts: AI-Powered Notifications to Empower Brands With Real-Time Market Intelligence

Revuze, the leading AI solution helping consumer brands make data-driven decisions from consumer reviews, is thrilled to announce its latest feature release: Revuze Alerts.

Revuze Alerts were designed to ensure direct-to-consumer companies can proactively stay on top of their category, brand, and products. The push notification suite includes: Insight Alerts, Consumer Sentiment Alerts, Star Rating Alerts, and Recently Added Alerts. These alerts will be pushed to relevant stakeholders any time there is a data refresh or when there is a change that is one standard deviation above and below the average.

“We are constantly thinking of ways to optimize our customers’ user experience. Brand professionals have little time and are constantly adapting to the marketplace. The AI algorithm is becoming proactive rather than reactive which is groundbreaking. Revuze Alerts is ushering the next phase of the product and there are more great developments on their way,” – Ido Ramati, Revuze Founder and COO.

To help open company bottlenecks further and ensure transparency, Revuze Alert reports can be sent to key decision-makers who may not be using platform users.

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In Berlin, Supply Chain Management

AI-Fueled Satellites Are First-Movers In Launch Of The Space Economy

Just as satellites revolutionized the space age in the 20th century, artificial intelligence (AI) has ignited the newest era in space commercialization with advanced analytics that can make the world’s infrastructure grid safer and more reliable. This latest innovation comes from LiveEO, a startup that delivers AI-powered analytics from satellite imagery of linear grids. The cloud-based service is already helping electric, railway, and pipeline companies detect and act on earthbound risks fast and safely.

“Intelligent satellite-based data is an efficient and eco-friendly way to monitor the ground environment around infrastructure,” said Martina Baccolo, global partner and alliances director at LiveEO. “Using AI to analyze satellite data from the earth’s surface, our solutions help companies identify and locate potential hazards to energy and transportation lines in record time with greater efficiencies.”

Headquartered in Berlin with offices in the US, UK and Latvia, LiveEO primarily serves organizations that operate electric power lines, oil and gas pipelines, and railways. Baccolo said that customers can typically reduce electrical outages by 14% within three years, and decrease operational expenses by 30%. She shared the company’s strategy with me at the International SAP Conference for Utilities in Basel.

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In Portfolio News, Funding Announcement

Venture Activity May 2023

SAP.iO’s ecosystem of successful raises and exits

May 2023

SAP.iO has curated over 525 startups in SAP’s startup ecosystem. We’re proud that many of the startups from our programs continue to raise VC funding and have successful exits. This demonstrates that SAP startup technologies are addressing the rapidly changing requirements of the marketplace and have risen to the occasion of meeting customer needs. Here are the latest raises and exits you should know about!

Funding

Gappify, a California based provider of accounting automation solutions for corporate accounting teams, raised $10M in Series B funding. The round brought the total amount to $22M, and as part of the transaction, FINTOP’s Jared Winegrad, General Partner, will join Gappify’s Board of Directors. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate growth and development of new accounting automation products.

Liftango, the Scotland-based shared mobility platform provider, has received over £2.5m in an investment round. Maven VCTs contributed £1.25m, with a further £1.25m having come from Scottish Enterprise and “a significant but undisclosed investment” amount from prior supporters. Capital raised by Liftango will go towards driving growth in new markets and increasing its presence in established locations.

Hanko has received a single-digit million figure investment from Berlin-based adesso Ventures. The German VC joins forces with existing investors High-Tech Gründerfonds, Smart Infrastructure Ventures, PAYONE founders Carl Frederic Zitscher and Jan Kanieß, as well as Intershop co-founder Roland Fassauer.

Deployed has scored $4M in a seed funding round co-led by Amrock Ventures and US-based M12, Microsoft’s fund that also backed Inworld AI and iLoF recently. Led by female founders Emma Rees and Kayleigh Kuptz, Deployed is focused on redefining the process of creating Statements of Work (SOWs) and planning projects.

Hacobu has closed a ¥1.5B round of funding. Hacobu offers an integrated solution “MOVO ” centering on the operation management system utilizing in-vehicle terminals.

TradeWaltz, which develops trade information collaboration platform “TradeWaltz” that aims to completely digitize trade procedures based on blockchain, has Sumitomo Corporation join the investment and raise 1.65 billion yen newly from the company and other existing shares. It was announced on May 29 that the cumulative amount of funding reached 5.65 billion yen.

Pirika has closed a ¥280M funding round. This investment will help Pirika aims to solve environmental problems with the power of science and technology.

Exits

Rallyware, the Performance Enablement Platform for large sales forces, has acquired the retail sales enablement platform Myagi. Together, Rallyware and Myagi will transform sales rep knowledge, operations, and productivity, delivering strong ROI to world-leading consumer brands and their multi-brand retailer partners.

In San Francisco, HR & People Engagement

Censia Talent Intelligence Launches AI-powered Executive Search Tool, Developed With Industry Leader Monica Bua

Censia Talent Intelligence is excited to announce its development of an AI-powered Executive Search tool, created with the guidance of Monica Bua. A distinguished global retained search executive, Bua has worked closely with Censia’s team on the development of Censia Executive Intelligence, an AI tool revolutionizing the landscape of executive search and talent acquisition.

Bringing over 20 years of executive recruitment and emerging product expertise, Bua guides Censia’s technology team in crafting an innovative solution that merges the realms of executive search and artificial intelligence. The new tool, Censia Executive Intelligence, is designed to provide companies with in-depth market and talent insights, instantaneous market mapping, and an unrivaled competitive advantage.

“By using Censia’s Executive Intelligence platform, we can predict with 97% accuracy how an executive will perform in year one at their new organization. Our platform has profiles on more than 550 million executives globally and can codify an executive’s past performance and help place them in the most impactful roles for top organizations. Our AI is designed to identify these difference makers with precision and speed, and with it, we dramatically reduce the placement time to 45 days, with 70% diversity hires.”

Monica Bua is well regarded across the executive search industry for her ability to identify and deliver transformational talent for preeminent organizations. In addition to her deep domain expertise in leadership assessment, Bua is a venture fund investor, a valued advisor, and a board member for numerous leading-edge technology startups. Her knack for understanding client needs and forming enduring relationships with senior leaders from the Fortune 100 has cemented her reputation as a trusted authority in the industry.

Read More…

In Foundries, Announcements

New Startup Solutions Available on SAP Store : May 2023

200+ SAP.iO startups deliver their apps, add-ins, and integration kits to SAP’s global customers through SAP Store. SAP Store is the online marketplace where customers around the world can discover, try, buy, and renew enterprise solutions from SAP and its trusted partners. We are excited to share with you the latest startup technologies to be added to the store! You can check out all of our portfolio technologies that integrate with SAP solutions on the SAP Store.

 

SignCatch Beyond Dark Stores

bySky Innovation Tech Labs Pvt Ltd.

Why disrupt when you can collaborate with supply chain?

With the aid of a distributed network of retail stores, the solution enables Brands to link with SAP Commerce Cloud and process online orders. Helps D2C brands access a wider audience and fill online orders cheaply and locally, allowing them to engage with customers more effectively. A partner that is a member of SAP’s curated startup ecosystem. This solution was incubated and/or funded by SAP.iO and works with SAP Commerce Cloud. Check a product video here, and find them out on the SAP Store here.

 

ThroughPut.ai Supply Chain SKU Rationalization

By ThroughPut, Inc.

Accelerate Material Flow and Free Cash Flow

Leveraging and enriching existing transactional data from SAP S/4HANA and earlier editions, obtain holistic visibility into the state of end-to-end supply chain operations in an easy to digest format with prioritized recommendations impacting free cash flow and creating supply chain leverage. A partner that is a member of SAP’s curated startup ecosystem. This solution was incubated and/or funded by SAP.iO and works with SAP Data Warehouse Cloud. Check a product video here, and find them out on the SAP Store here.

 

iCoupon

by Shanghai Freemud Network Technology

A low cost, highly efficient coupon platform

The integration with SAP Customer Data Platform closes the loop for the precision marketing process, starting from the precision segmentation of customers provided by your SAP system through SAP BTP, our solution handles the precision distribution and tracking. This solution was incubated and/or funded by SAP.iO and works with SAP Extension Suite and/or SAP Integration Suite, SAP Customer Data Cloud. Check a product video here, and find them out on the SAP Store here.

 

Land Displacement Monitoring

By Synspective Inc.

Analysis of ground risks through millimeter-scale surface change monitoring

InSAR analysis technology and satellite monitoring enable continuous monitoring of large areas at a lower cost than actual surveying. By linking with the SAP Business Intelligence Network, wide-area, weather-independent information can be used for facilities management. This solution was incubated and/or funded by SAP.iO and works with SAP Asset Intelligence Network. Check a product video here, and find them out on the SAP Store here.

 

LIVEBUY

By LIVEBUY GmbH

Boost sales with shoppable videos & live streams. Directly in your online shop.

Unlock the power of shoppable video with LIVEBUY, a game-changing SaaS for leading, forward-thinking retailers that lets you effortlessly infuse interactive video content into your online shop. Ignite your sales and by delivering an immersive, fun shopping experience for your customers. This solution was incubated and/or funded by SAP.iO and works with SAP Commerce and SAP Commerce Cloud. Check them out on the SAP Store here.

 

Digital Product Passports for E-commerce

By Arianee

Unlock the power of digital product passports for E-commerce

Arianee makes it easy for you to generate a Digital Product Passport on the fly for every order. Powered by web3 technology, your passports come with native interoperability & enriched CRM features. Get ready for EU Ecodesign regulations & pave the way for a circular business model. This solution was incubated and/or funded by SAP.iO and works with SAP Commerce Cloud. Check a product video here, and find them out on the SAP Store here.

 

Replika Software

By Replika Software Inc.

Brand-Centric Remote & Selling Platform

Replika Software is designed to help brands achieve greater e-commerce success by leveraging the power of their network of sellers/influencers to inspire online sales and providing a curated shopping experience for customers. This solution was incubated and/or funded by SAP.iO and works with SAP Commerce and SAP Commerce Cloud. Check a product video here, and find them out on the SAP Store here.

 

Discover Dollar Resolve

By Discover Dollar Technologies Pvt Ltd

Uncover hidden profits in the procure-to-pay process using AI

Help enterprises identify and recover overpayments by analyzing price and discounts negotiated over e-mails and contracts using AI. Fortune 500 companies have recovered more than $504M using our solution, which is integrated with SAP S4/HANA and SAP BTP. This solution was incubated and/or funded by SAP.iO and works with SAP S/4HANA, SAP S/4HANA Cloud, and SAP ERP. Check a product video here, and find them out on the SAP Store here.

 

Sense Messaging Platform

By Sense Talent Labs, Inc.

AI-powered mass texting solution designed for the enterprise

Message natively inside SAP SuccessFactors. Texting accelerates hiring, enhances branding, and exceeds recruiting targets while delivering an automated, yet personalized candidate experience. This solution was incubated and/or funded by SAP.iO and works with SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central and SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting. Check a product video here, and find them out on the SAP Store here.

 

In Blog, Inclusiveness, Featured

Supporting LGBTQ+ Founders and Fostering Inclusion in the Tech & VC Industries

By Max Kahn, Director, SAP.iO

As an out and proud leader at SAP, I couldn’t be more excited to celebrate Pride Month and recognize the inspiring LGBTQ+ individuals who’ve made a significant impact in the world of tech, entrepreneurship, and venture capital. This month, we not only celebrate our community’s resilience and pride, but also reflect on the progress we’ve made and the work that still needs to be done to create a more inclusive and equitable world. In recent years, the world has seen a surge of innovative LGBTQ+ startup founders who’ve broken barriers and paved the way for a new generation of entrepreneurs. Despite these achievements, the world of venture capital continues to be primarily male & pale, with only a small percentage of investments going to startups founded by women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and people of color.

According to a study by StartOut, LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs are less likely to receive funding from investors compared to their non-LGBTQ+ counterparts, despite having comparable or even better performance metrics. This disparity highlights the pressing need for greater representation and support for the LGBTQ+ community in the venture capital space. As corporates, we have a responsibility to do better and foster an inclusive environment that encourages and supports LGBTQ+ employees & founders.

Here are some ways we can contribute:

1. Educate investors and customers about the value of diversity: It’s proven that diverse teams lead to better decision-making and innovation. By educating about the benefits of funding underrepresented founded & led startups, we can continue to shift the narrative and encourage more inclusive investments. For example, companies that embrace pro LGBTQ+ policies outperform those without them in the stock market by more than three percent. In our SAP.iO portfolio, underrepresented startups make up 44% of our portfolio and tie or surpass their counterparts in benchmarks used to measure success including number of exits and likelihood to progress in their partnership with SAP.

2. Embrace inclusive policies & benefits: Encourage your company and portfolio companies to adopt policies and practices that are inclusive and supportive of LGBTQ+ employees. Join SAP by embedding inclusive language into the DNA of your company, offering comprehensive coverage for gender-affirming care, and providing fertility support and family-building benefits for people of all identities. Recognizing pronouns is also essential to creating an inclusive environment for transgender and nonbinary colleagues. I’m proud that employees can easily add their chosen name and personal pronouns to their people profiles in SAP SuccessFactors. In addition to building inclusive companies and ecosystems, lobbying for equality is more important than ever. It’s important to recognize that one-third of the countries worldwide still criminalize homosexuality.

3. Foster collaborations & partnerships: Collaborate with organizations, accelerators, and non-profits that specifically focus on supporting LGBTQ+ founders and funders. Partnerships create a stronger support network for LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs and contribute to their long-term success. In addition, supporting emerging LGBTQ+ VCs increases diversity within the VC community and drives more equitable decisions. Organizations like StartOut, Gaingels, and Out in Tech are fantastic resources for both startups and corporates to get involved with.

This Pride Month let’s celebrate the achievements of our community and continue working together to build a more inclusive and equitable future for all.

In Awards

Ernst & Young Announces Michael Fitzsimmons of Crosschq as an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2023 Bay Area Award Finalist

Ernst & Young announced Michael “Mike” Fitzsimmons, CEO of Crosschq was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2023 Bay Area Award finalist. Now in its 37th year, Entrepreneur Of The Year is one of the preeminent competitive business awards for transformative entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies who are building a more equitable, sustainable and prosperous world for all.

Entrepreneurs are evaluated based on their demonstration of building long-term value through entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact, among other core contributions and attributes. Selected by an independent panel of judges, Fitzsimmons was noted for his history of creating innovative companies that disrupt the status quo. Through his work as co-founder and CEO of Crosschq, he is challenging the $45B hiring market by shifting the industry mindset to quality in hiring decisions using data, analytics and insights.

As a result, Crosschq’s customers and partners include Deloitte, WPP, Allegis, Pinterest, HubSpot, Saks Fifth Avenue, Workday, SAP, and Greenhouse, among others. Investors include GGV Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Tiger Global, SAP, Okta and Salesforce. Fitzsimmons also helps individuals who’ve faced barriers to employment get back to work through The 941 Project, a partnership with Golden State Warriors All-Star Klay Thompson, The Thompson Family Foundation, CareerCircle and Defy Ventures

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In New York, CRM & Customer Experience

Zoovu Chosen as Lead Partner in SAP’s Industry Cloud to Help Customers Digitize their Sales Environments

Zoovu, the AI-powered product discovery and e-commerce experience platform leader, announced it has been selected by SAP as its recommended industry cloud solution for manufacturers looking to accelerate their digital transformation in product sales and self-service procurement.

The partnership is expanding as global companies increasingly look to unlock new revenue streams and lower direct selling costs through more automated and intelligent e-commerce platforms. Until now, given the complexity and number of products offered by most manufacturers and large-scale B2B organizations, deeply knowledgeable sales teams were required to educate customers and convert inquiries into sales. By harnessing the power of SAP and Zoovu technology, customers can easily transform large, complex product catalogs into highly accurate and continuously optimized digital selling environments.

Zoovu was invited last year to join the SAP.iO Acceleration Partner Program and the platform quickly jumped to within the top 2% of performers in the SAP® Store. Building upon this strong market demand, Zoovu has been elevated to an SAP partner for SAP’s industry cloud portfolio.

“Our customers are realizing significant cost savings and revenue growth by bringing their complex product offerings into a digital commerce environment powered by Zoovu,” said Stephan G. Braun, Executive Industry Advisor, SAP. “We look forward to continued collaboration with the Zoovu team to help customers with this business transformation,” he added.

“We are excited about deepening our SAP partnership and helping global B2B customers create significant business value with our AI-driven platform,” said Lamees Butt, Senior Vice President, Global Alliances & Channels, Zoovu. “SAP is the leader in helping companies drive business transformation and we are honored to have been chosen as their lead partner in solving these sales-enablement problems, especially for the manufacturing sector,” she added.

The no-code Zoovu cloud platform integrates seamlessly with the SAP Business Technology Platform, allowing B2B and D2C customers to automate product data cleansing, standardization, solution bundling, and intelligent product searches from disparate data sources, including PDFs, PIMs, CRMs, even YouTube product videos. Zoovu’s AI-driven platform then applies its product ontology, syntax and sales insight gleaned from more than 70,000 product categories to ensure buyers are always presented with exactly the right product. It’s guided selling tools, assistants, and product configurators can then create powerful self-service customer experiences at scale.

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In Tel Aviv, ERP & Finance

AI Unlocks Energy Savings And Revenue From Smart Meter Data

Which home appliances consume the most energy? What renewable energy sources would save households serious money? When are the best times for people to cost-efficiently charge their new EVs? These are some of the burning questions that NET2GRID answers for energy-conscious utility providers and consumers.

“Customers want affordable and easy-to-use options to better understand their energy consumption and manage resources in the most beneficial ways,” said Berend Olde Rikkert, commercial director at NET2GRID. “We provide accurate residential energy insights and predictions from energy data, helping utility providers find new revenue streams and guide customers on their journey to renewable energy.”

I talked with Olde Rikkert at the International SAP Conference for Energy and Utilities in Basel about how NET2GRID’s cloud-based data platform provides energy retailers and their customers with sustainable energy strategies in a volatile market. He told me that one energy provider in Germany tripled self-service, reducing service calls by 60% and churn by 40% within customers that adopted services. He said that consumers can save up to 30% in energy costs by following energy-saving recommendations.

Based in The Netherlands, NET2GRID analyzes smart meter readings from residential households, either collecting data directly from the meter or provided by the energy company. The company’s AI-based algorithms calculate energy consumption patterns of household appliances. Energy retailers can turn these insights into services, providing personalized offers to consumers for cost-savings.

“If people are producing solar power or home charging their EV, we can detect from only meter readings how much energy each device used and when the consumer used it,” said Olde Rikkert. “Knowing that a customer began charging their EV at home for the first time, the energy retailer can offer a special tariff. Similarly, they can alert the consumer if data shows the household is spending more on home heating to comparable households. The retailer can offer sustainable energy suggestions, such as installing additional insulation or a heat pump.”

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In HR & People Engagement, Awards

Plum Wins 2023 Globee® Awards for Disruptors

Plum Talent Platform has been honored as a winner in the prestigious 3rd Annual 2023 Globee® Awards for Disruptors. The Globee® Awards, recognized globally as the foremost business awards and ranking lists, bestow these esteemed accolades to celebrate and acknowledge exceptional disruptors in every industry.

The Globee Awards for Disruptors is an esteemed program that recognizes and celebrates organizations and individuals who have made significant contributions in driving disruptive innovation across various industries. These awards acknowledge the trailblazers who have challenged the status quo, introduced groundbreaking ideas, and transformed traditional practices through their disruptive approaches. The Globee Awards for Disruptors highlight the achievements and impact of disruptive leaders, companies, products, and technologies that are shaping the future of business and society. It serves as a platform to honor those who have redefined norms, created new market opportunities, and revolutionized industries through their visionary thinking and innovative solutions.

With a universal design, Plum uses objective data to measure and match human potential to job needs, enhancing talent decisions across the employee journey. Featuring unmatched scalability, Plum empowers organizations to quantify job fit, improve quality of hire, identify potential, provide personalized career insights and create high-performing teams from one platform.

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In Foundries, Article

How Startups Can Maximize Their Partnership With Corporates

The partnership between a startup and a corporation is all about balance. Startups harness their agility to identify new market opportunities but often struggle to scale. On the other hand, corporations have successfully scaled but can miss new market opportunities. This is not to say that either can’t do the other successfully – they can and have – but there’s a benefit to partnering up.

There’s a reason 94 percent of tech executives think innovation partnerships are an essential component of their strategy. Partnerships offer access to new markets and customers. They can lower development costs, provide valuable insights into experimental technologies and the talent required to build them, and, importantly, accelerate innovation. The problem is that these partnerships are anything but a sure thing.

Let’s dive into what corporates look for in a partner and how startups can increase the chances of a successful collaboration.

Corporates offer more than funding

While many corporates ask for equity in startups, entering the partnership with a no-equity stake goes a long way in establishing clear parameters and trust for both parties. Although seemingly counterintuitive, financing is not among the top three reasons startups engage in corporate partnerships.

Startups are primarily interested in access to the corporate’s customers and market. In exchange, startups help solve a broader range of customer problems and expand a corporation’s product offerings. More partners also mean a more extensive ecosystem and the chance to offer customers a curated selection of startup solutions.

Understand what makes you unique

Startups should acknowledge that there is often a chasm in work cultures and styles. Corporates plan, budget, and approach risk differently. They also have different types of customers.

Mark Osborn, GVP Business Development & Strategy, SAP Consumer Industries, advises startups approaching corporate customers should find others with a similar mindset. “It helps when you can identify the innovators in those organizations – people who are willing to take some risk on new products in exchange for innovation,” says Osborn. “Startups need to understand that the value they bring to a corporate customer is the opportunity to innovate and get ahead of the competition, even if it means taking a risk.”

Not all partnerships work out

The stakes will always be higher for startups than for corporations. Most startups don’t succeed, and more than two-thirds of them never deliver a positive return to investors. So having access to a corporate partner’s market and customers while sending a positive signal to investors can help. Despite the benefits, not all partnerships work out. For example, an integration won’t strengthen anyone’s value proposition if the startup’s ideal customer doesn’t use the corporation’s products.

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In Bangalore, HR & People Engagement

Delhi startup is using AI to fix challneges in the hiring process

At a time when security concerns and cyber threats are plaguing organizations, employee background verification has become more important than ever. TraqCheck, a Delhi-based startup launched in 2021, aims to make employee background verification more efficient and cost-effective. Founded by Jaibir Nihal Singh and his childhood friends Armaan Mehta and Rishabh Jain, the startup uses AI for the background verification of employees and helps organizations onboard the right people. It uses technology and automation to increase speed, enhance efficiency, reduce human error, and help companies maintain compliance to streamline the background verification process.

“Despite initial feedback from several industry experts suggesting the infeasibility of automating background checks in India, we persisted in building our product and discovered that it was indeed viable. This realisation motivated us to focus on developing the technology and advancing ahead,” Jaibir Nihal Singh, Co-founder of TraqCheck, tells YourStory.

The founders initially invested Rs 6 lakh from personal savings to bootstrap the startup. Currently, the team has about 20 employees. Automating verification solution TraqCheck is an ‘Application Programming Interface (API)-first product that is customizable and can be integrated with any Human Resource System (HRMS) with just a few lines of code.

Singh explains that after getting information about the candidate, it runs a background verification with the data gathered. It then produces results that can be viewed on the dashboard or the client’s HRMS system. The product authenticates and aggregates an individual’s historical information, including their criminal record, education history, previous employment, identity, address, and psychometric results, with meticulous accuracy and a fast turnaround time. It also includes a myriad of bots and algorithms such as the Identity Matching Algorithm, the Employment Verification Bot, and the Forgery Detection Algorithm, amalgamated with an end-to-end automated system, providing organizations with complete background check solutions.

“Our streamlined approach is designed to minimize any additional workload for HR teams, providing them with a convenient and seamless experience, while their advanced system handles the entire background verification process expeditiously,” Singh asserts.

The startup has partnered with OpenAI to build various features such as categorizing criminal records, computer vision for current address verification, and more.

Read More…