SAP and Hasso Plattner Ventures Announce Joint Strategic Investment in RIB Software

WALLDORF, Germany, Jan. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) and Hasso Plattner Ventures today announced they have made a minority co-investment in RIB Software AG (RIB), a leading technology company in the construction industry. The investment underscores SAP's commitment to fuel the development of innovative solutions built on the integration of RIB iTWO and SAP® software.

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The construction industry is one of the most important worldwide industrial segments, and exhibits excellent growth potential for RIB and SAP. Due to the increasing industrialization and digitalization of construction processes, there is a rapidly growing demand for new software applications that integrate project and enterprise resource planning (ERP) processes on the basis of digital construction models. RIB and SAP will cooperate to offer model-based editing of project and ERP processes. The solutions are intended to improve efficiency and to increase value creation in executing and monitoring construction and business processes.

"As part of the SAP ecosystem, our solutions integrated with business processes using the SAP infrastructure will significantly help advance our global market share and generate international growth," said Michael Sauer, executive board member, RIB Software AG. "Working together with SAP, we plan to deliver a thoroughly industrialized and digitalized platform for handling construction processes. By using these technologies, a reduction in total construction costs of up to 30 percent may occur, based on what was experienced by other industries, such as the automotive and aerospace industries."

RIB offers solutions that cover the entire value creation chain in the construction, plant engineering and infrastructure sectors. With over 12,000 customers worldwide, RIB is a leading software provider for the construction industry. At the same time, RIB software forms the link between computer-aided design applications (CAD) and ERP.

"We're pleased to make this investment in RIB, and look forward to co-innovating with them to deliver benefits to the entire construction industry," said Kevin Ichhpurani, senior vice president, SAP AG. "Customers may benefit from the delivery of innovative, powerful, modular and integrated solutions that help them handle their projects, potentially leading to increased efficiencies, improved business processes and reduced costs. RIB and SAP together can offer an integrated solution for the construction industry, as well as industries with similar processes, such as leveraging CAD information to estimate costs and execution processes."

"Hasso Plattner Ventures has a clear vision in its goal to help promising IT and Cleantech companies pave their way to becoming global leaders," said Eran Davidson, CEO of Hasso Plattner Ventures. "We are confident that with our experience, RIB will further strengthen its leading position in the construction industries on a global scale within the next years."

Hasso Plattner Ventures At a Glance

Hasso Plattner Ventures was founded in July 2005 in Potsdam near Berlin, Germany. As a venture capital company, Hasso Plattner Ventures takes a minority stake in start-up businesses and supports them in accessing international markets. The main emphasis lies in investing in the segment of information technology. In 2008 a second fund was created, which has widened the focus to include Cleantech, as well as firmly established companies. SAP Co-Founder Prof. Dr. h. c. Hasso Plattner supplies the lion's share of investment capital, followed by InvestitionsBank Brandenburg, CMEA Capital, Shai Agassi and Arnon Katz. The portfolio companies benefit not only from the financial support but also from the know-how and highly qualified team. More information is available at www.hp-ventures.com.

About RIB

RIB is one of the leading software providers for process and cost management solutions. At the same time, RIB software forms the link between computer-aided design applications (CAD) and enterprise resource planning systems (ERP). The RIB solutions cover the entire value creation chain in the construction, plant engineering, and infrastructure sectors. For more information, visit www.rib-software.com

About SAP

SAP is the world's leading provider of business software(*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With more than 92,000 customers in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol "SAP." For more information, visit www.sap.com.

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning, business intelligence, and related applications.

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