SAP Startup Studio, the open innovation programme at SAP Labs India, announced the launch of its fifth annual cohort programme for 2022-23. The 12-month programme focuses on nurturing the startup ecosystem and providing entrepreneurs opportunities to scale their businesses. This year, SAP Labs India is accepting applications from early growth stage SaaS startups in the enterprise-tech domain (under USD 1 Mn in annual recurring revenue) until May 15, 2022.

The startups will be shortlisted based on internal evaluation by a jury comprising SAP’s leadership, sales, and product engineering team. Selected startups will get guidance from SAP experts on how they can scale their solutions through co-innovating with SAP technology and dedicated market access through the SAP customer and partner ecosystem in India. Through the programme, startups will also gain exposure to the country’s tier-1 and tier-2 VC ecosystems and think tanks. 

This year, SAP Startup Studio has the following offerings:

• Enabling a focused co-innovation on SAP leveraging the key capabilities of SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) and deep integrations to SAP portfolio supported by SAP Product Engineering & Product Management teams.
• GTM readiness and joint GTM engagement along with SAP India Market unit teams.
• Listing of the co-innovated solutions on the SAP store for customers and partners of SAP to consume these applications on the go.
• Dedicated access to the SaaS Club initiative in collaboration with Zinnov to drive greater collaboration and thought leadership activities. 
• Active engagement with Tier 1 and Tier 2 VC firms to provide support for raising funding and thus helping these startups scale up.
• Partnership opportunity with T-Hub to drive a focused co-innovation and thought leadership engagement for startups from the sustainability tech space.

Sindhu Gangadharan, SVP, SAP User Enablement & MD, SAP Labs India, said, “The Indian startup ecosystem has seen substantial growth over the years, esp. during the pandemic. SaaS-enabled solutions gained more prominence for their benefits of a reduced time to market, increased revenue, and a simplified distribution model. This year, through SAP Startup Studio, aspiring SaaS entrepreneurs will get opportunities to mature and expand their businesses in a nurturing environment. We will co-identify solutions that complement SAP offerings and jointly take them to market. The objective is to fasten their innovative thinking, encourage the entrepreneurial spirit, and foster India’s technology startup scene.”

Submit your application to the programme here.