SAP to support startups

Participants in this initiative will be offered HANA test and development licenses, development toolkits and technical support from worth more than R550 000.

SAP Africa will be launching its first-ever African Startup Forum on 30 January 2013 in Johannesburg.

SAP is looking for promising startup companies interested in developing their big data solutions on top of SAP HANA, the in-memory database and computing platform.

As part of the company’s global strategy to empower startups and entrepreneurs in growing their businesses, SAP Africa will be launching its first-ever African Startup Forum on 30 January 2013 in Johannesburg.

Participants in this initiative will be offered HANA test and development licenses, development toolkits and ongoing technical support from SAP worth more than R550 000 at no charge until the business runs live on SAP HANA (up to one year).

SAP will identify key startups which are then invited to join a development accelerator (DA). The objective of a DA is to build a Proof of Concept (PoC) and, eventually, a product with explicit business value. Startups will be selected based on feasibility and viability. The DA kicks off with an intensive boot camp on SAP HANA development topics.

Once development is underway, SAP will support participants with regular architecture reviews, technical support and consulting. Once past the PoC stage, the best solutions will be promoted to the public and the solutions will be featured in promotional materials. When startups are ready with their product, they will enter SAP’s Go-To-Market stage.

Participants in the programme will also have the opportunity to meet representatives from SAP Ventures to explore funding opportunities out of the $155 million startup SAP Ventures Fund. In addition, they will also have a chance to attend and present at major SAP international events.

The closing date for registrations is 12 December 2012.