SAP Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of Germany-based technology company SAP led by Nino Marakovic (pictured), is reportedly set to invest more in early stage deals, after it unveiled a $155m fund to invest in start-ups developing real-time applications which can be used on its HANA platform, a database designed to operate in real-time.
The SAP HANA Real-Time Fund was unveiled on Tuesday as part of a wider strategy to promote SAP’s database. Marakovic said SAP was the sole limited partner in the fund.
SAP said: "The fund will be used to foster and support an ecosystem of entrepreneurs and investors focused on the development of real-time applications. This announcement comes on the heels of the first SAP Startup Forum, which was held in Palo Alto in March and featured 24 startups leveraging the SAP HANA platform."
Jai Das, managing director of SAP Ventures, was reported by news provider VentureWire as managing the fund, which said the new development would allow SAP Ventures to invest more in early stage deals as opposed to its late stage focus. "We were missing out on early-stage opportunities," Das said, according to VentureWire. Das reportedly added SAP may invest as little as $500,000 in start-ups to work with HANA.
The firm is also looking to raise its next core fund, it emerged last month. Nino Marakovic, SAP Ventures’ chief executive, said last month: "We are targeting to do our next ‘core’ fund in about 24 months and have not decided if we will consider partnering with other limited partners yet."