SAP Startup Factory by BANA has announced the selected startups of the acceleration program. The 10 B2B teams are now a part of a 16-week acceleration program with an outstanding opportunity to integrate with the German software giant – SAP.
As the world’s largest provider of enterprise application software, SAP has 440,000 customers, and 150B+ dollars valuation. SAP has invested in 110 tech startups, and acquired 70+ startups.
The application period lasted from July 5th to July 25th, during which 51 applications were received.The applicants’ industries included hospitality, banking, retail, agribusiness, healthcare, fashion, telecommunications, media, education, etc.
The selection of the participants was accomplished by Roman Gumenyuk (Co-Innovation Architect at Global SAP Co-Innovation Lab Network), Andrey Yakimov (Chief Technology Officer at SAP CIS), Inbar Yacoby (Program Manager at SAP.iO Foundry Tel Aviv), Karen Vardanyan (Fund Manager at Sprint Crowdfunders’ Fund, Partner at Formula VC), Grigor Hovhannisyan (Director at BANA – Business Angel Network of Armenia, Partner at Formula VC), Nikita Razhev (Senior Business Development Manager at SAP) and Steven Tong (Head at SAP.iO Foundry Singapore).
Based on the application validations and interview sessions the 10 teams are:
The 1st batch of SAP Startup Factory brings together top international and local mentors, SAP professionals, leading experts and a strong network of startup expertise. The uniquely crafted program will enhance each participant startup’s development and constitute successful achievements.
Having a clear vision to guide Armenian startups into international markets, SAP Startup Factory gives access to the biggest B2B customer base, actively supports to increase success in the market, gives an architectural advisory for developing an integration with SAP products and provides knowledge support from SAP Learning Hub.
BANA – Business Angel Network of Armenia is the 1st and the most active Angel Network in Armenia. It has a mission to connect leading angel investors from around the world with the brightest Armenian entrepreneurs. BANA runs many ecosystem-building activities like a business incubator, conferences, boot camps, and various startup events.
SAP is the world leader in enterprise applications; more than 440,000 customers use SAP solutions and services in 180 countries worldwide. In 1992, the SAP SE office was opened in Moscow, now the number of SAP CIS employees is about 1,300 people. In 2012, SAP Labs opened a research and development center in Moscow, a St.Petersburg division. For more than 29 years, SAP has helped Russian companies transform and optimize their businesses based on innovative solutions. SAP is the only international developer that has its own data center in Russia. In July 2018, opened the SAP Digital Leadership Center in Moscow. The company actively invests in training, enhancing competence, and developing ecosystem expertise. More than 130 universities in Russia and CIS receive free access to SAP software for educational purposes. Since 2016, 17 SAP Next-Gen Lab centers of innovation for students and young IT professionals have been opened.
The EU4Business “Innovative Tourism and Technology Development for Armenia’’ project is co-funded by the European Union and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by German Development Cooperation GIZ through the Private Sector Development and TVET South Caucasus Programme. The project is part of the EU4Business initiative of the European Union.