SAP Launches First Startup Focus Program for Southeast Asia

SAP help Entrepreneurs and SMEs change the game and kickstart growth with SAP HANA Innovations
Kuala Lumpur, September 03, 2012 – SAP has announced the launch of the SAP Startup Forum in Singapore on 6 September 2012. The program, which is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, will help startup companies to scale their business through the adoption and development of new applications on SAP HANA, a real-time data platform.

The invite-only event offers startups the opportunity to create easy-to-access solutions to manage ‘big data’ in real-time with SAP HANA. By offering businesses greater access to the benefits of SAP HANA’s open platform, powerful processing speed, ability to handle ‘big data’ and innovative next-generation applications, SAP will help Southeast Asian businesses run better.

 “The SAP Startup Focus Program aims to bolster innovation in startup communities in Southeast Asia and the world, by making SAP HANA’s breakthrough capabilities easily available to entrepreneurs and small businesses for development. The program offers eligible participants a simple, inexpensive and effective development accelerator, valued at about USD65,000, as well as the opportunity to access SAP Ventures,” said Simon Dale, Head of Technology and Innovation, SAP Asia Pacific and Japan.

SAP Ventures launched the US$155M SAP HANA Real-Time Fund this past April to identify and cultivate groundbreaking startups who can deliver high quality solutions to real-world problems using HANA.

From the Startup Forum, six to ten promising startups in Southeast Asia including one from Malaysia, will be invited to join the development accelerator, which helps them test SAP HANA and prove the business value, with free training, software, support up to a year and certification on SAP technologies.

The SAP Startup Forum was first launched in March 2012 and is a platform for SAP to meet and engage with entrepreneurs from major innovation hubs around the globe. Through a series of events across the world, the program also brings the opportunity for collaboration and learning with fellow entrepreneurs and SAP executives at day-long forums.