Watch: What sets apart the SAP Startup Studio programme this year

The 2020-21 cohort at the SAP Startup Studio programme has not only gone virtual but also includes two growth stage companies — omnichannel customer relationship management software UNFYD and data and analytics firm The Mathcompany. 

The programme, in its fourth year, will train an 18-member strong batch.

The Startup Studio programme provides mentorship and helps companies sharpen their go-to-market strategies, allowing access to SAP’s consumer base. Apart from being SAP-certified, the companies in the current cohort will also get to list their co-innovated solutions on the SAP App Center. 

The cohort companies are also offered membership fee waiver of 2000 Euros for PartnerEdge membership.

“While the usual cohort is a year long, based on our learnings over the years, the cohort of 2020-21 will be six to eight months. This is because we have seen that our engagement with companies intensifies after they move out of the cohort,” Sindhu Gangadharan, senior vice president and managing director at SAP Labs India told TechCircle in an interview.

Watch the video for more details on how the current cohort will operate.

Founded in 1998, SAP Labs India is the largest research and development centre for the German multinational outside of its headquarters. The company has a network of 20 such centres across 17 countries.

“As the startups mature and we head to joint customer engagement or co-innovation models, those relations continue,” she added. 

With a shortened cycle, SAP is looking to engage with more startups, Gangadharan told TechCircle.

For The Mathcompany and UNFYD, the benefits extend to API integration with SAP solutions or applications, as well as building solutions on SAP cloud and on-premise technology. 

Started in 2016 in India, the Startup Studio program also provides curated companies a chance to be backed by SAP’s venture capital arm, SAP.io. “We also have an intrapreneurship programme which encourages entrepreneurs within the company,” said Gangadharan.

She added that given the move to working remotely and Covid-19 related lockdowns, the cohort for 2020-21 also includes companies which provide innovative solutions for SAP customer pain-points including supply chain resiliency, sales and marketing optimisation, among others.