SAP invests: n8n becomes one of the most valuable German AI startups
SAP expands its AI portfolio with further investments: products from startups n8n and Parloa are to realize the vision of the autonomous company.
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Germany's software giant SAP is investing in AI startups again, this time in Berlin-based automation specialist n8n and AI customer service company Parloa. The parties involved are not disclosing specific sums. However, n8n reports that its valuation has reached 5.2 billion US dollars due to the investment.
This represents a doubling in less than a year and places n8n among the highest-valued AI startups in Germany. The leader remains Munich-based AI drone startup Helsing, which, according to recent reports, could soon reach a valuation of 18 billion US dollars.
Automation and AI Customer Service
The products of n8n and Parloa fit well into the vision of the autonomous company, which SAP presented at its in-house trade fair Sapphire this week. In an autonomous company, AI-powered assistants are intended to work hand in hand with human staff and fully take over business processes. According to the announcement, n8n's automation tool will soon be natively available within the Joule Studio development environment on the SAP Business AI Platform. n8n allows for the visual creation and orchestration of AI workflows, among other things.
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At Parloa too, according to the announcement, it's not just about a strategic investment, but about product integration. Parloa's AI agents for customer service via digital channels and call centers are to be connectable with business data and processes from the SAP Service Cloud. Parloa promises agentic customer service that can handle a high volume of interactions and acts very human-like and brand-compliant. Parloa's AI Agent Management Platform, which is intended to support agent management from design and testing to deployment and optimization, will also find its way into SAP's business app store.
SAP Shops Startups
According to the commercial register, SAP's stake in n8n is increasing to almost 1.3 percent. As the Handelsblatt reports, citing insiders, SAP is investing $60 million in n8n; a double-digit million amount is also said to have flowed to Parloa.
At the beginning of May, SAP took over Freiburg-based AI startup Prior Labs, which focuses on tabular foundation models, and announced plans to acquire the US data platform Dremio. It already became known in March that SAP wants to acquire Reltio, another data specialist from the USA.
(axk)
