SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced the launch of the SAP.iO Foundry New York Fall 2020 virtual accelerator program with six early-stage enterprise startups led by women and/or diverse entrepreneurs.

These startups are driving innovation with solutions relevant to the retail, manufacturing or automotive industries.

'Digitalization is advancing enterprise business progress more than at any other time in history,' said Vanessa Liu, head of SAP North America Foundries. 'Understanding that startup innovation can drive value for our customers and partners in these industries in a post COVID-19 global society, we welcome these entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds to the SAP.iO family.'

SAP customers need to adapt quickly to market dynamics, and this requires an unparalleled commitment to digitalization. To this end, SAP.iO remains committed to its SAP.iO No Boundaries initiative, announced in early 2019, and to the belief that a healthy ecosystem includes entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds.

'We welcome this innovative group to the New York Fall 2020 cohort,' said Peter Maier, SAP president of Industries and Customer Advisory. 'We are particularly looking forward to working with these companies on our industry cloud solutions for retail, manufacturing and automotive that will enable our customers to rapidly respond to new business requirements and drive cost-effective transformation and sustainable growth.'

The 12-week program will be held virtually. The new cohort includes startups using technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), analytics, 3D printing, robotic fabrication and ultrasonic to drive new business insights and capabilities. The cohort 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. The program will culminate with the Demo Day in December 2020.

The SAP.iO Foundry New York cohort includes the following startups:

Cogniac is an enterprise platform utilizing AI, human-computer interaction tools and large-scale data management to enable easy automation of any visual inspection task for the industrial and manufacturing industries.

Hero is an online shopping platform that helps retail store associates connect, through text, chat and video, with hundreds of millions of online shoppers.

Ivaldi provides companies with a sustainable, cost-effective digital distribution solution to identify, qualify and distribute digital spare-part files for on-demand production and distribution.

LISNR's ultrasonic data-over-sound technology enables proximity verification and contactless transactions for merchants, financial service providers and automotive and transportation companies.

Rheaply offers an award-winning asset management and exchange platform to help customers visualize, quantify and utilize their physical assets.

Wise Systems is an AI-driven dispatch and routing software that helps enterprises adapt to everyday challenges, improving fleet efficiency and customer service.

To learn more about SAP.iO and how SAP is helping innovators inside and outside of SAP build products, find customers and change industries, visit SAP.iO.

Visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at @SAPNews.

Media Contacts:

Anke Otto-Jungkind, +1 (650) 796-6478, anke.otto-jungkind@sap.com, PT

Lesa Beber, +1 (650) 390-1629, lesa.beber@sap.com, PT

SAP Press Room; press@sap.com

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