SAP Announces First Collaboration in esports and Becomes the Official Innovation Partner of Team Liquid

- SAP will become a three-year sponsor of Team Liquid

- SAP and Team Liquid will co-innovate on in-game data analysis to improve player and team performance

- SAP HANA® business data platform to be used as foundation for co-innovation process


WALLDORF, Germany, April 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced a new sponsorship deal with Team Liquid, one of the most successful teams in esports. The sponsorship of Team Liquid is the first collaboration of SAP with a professional esports organization. As official innovation partner, SAP will work with Team Liquid on co-developing software based on in-game data, which will help Team Liquid analyze performance and achieve greater precision in areas like team and player performance and scouting new talent.

SAP will support Team Liquid by implementing a range of innovative technology solutions that deliver cutting-edge analytics to the team to improve overall performance in training and in competition. The SAP HANA® business data platform will serve as the core technology for co-development. Additional components such as SAP® Cloud Platform, the SAP Leonardo digital innovation system as well as the Internet of Things (IoT) and predictive and machine learning functionalities will be evaluated as part of the co-innovation process. By equipping Team Liquid with the most innovative tools possible to track and improve performance, SAP hopes to participate as an authentic, global and sustainable player in the esports ecosystem, addressing a young and tech-savvy esports community.

"After deciding to become a sponsor in the field of esports, SAP took time to observe and analyze the market and its ecosystem before finally deciding to partner with Team Liquid – one of the most successful teams in the business," said Stefan Ries, chief human resources officer, SAP. "For SAP, esports opens us up to a tech-savvy and highly skilled young audience and potential new talent for SAP. As a global, innovative and forward-looking technology company, SAP provides a high brand fit to the esports ecosystem."

"There is a strong demand for meaningful data and analytics software in esports," said Victor Goossens, co-CEO, Team Liquid. "For Team Liquid, competitive performance is key – and smart technology and data give us the best possible tools to analyze and improve. As a technology company at the cutting edge of innovation and with sponsorship experience across sports and entertainment, SAP is the perfect partner to collaborate with Team Liquid to create tools and solutions to fuel our competitive journey."

"esports is a highly interesting field for SAP. With a team sponsorship, SAP will be able to activate its full potential by working closely together with Team Liquid to understand their needs and apply innovative technology solutions to address them," said Lars Lamadé, head of sponsorships, Europe & Asia, SAP. "SAP as an innovation-driven company is interested in esports as a 100% digital sport with a high speed of development. The partnership with Team Liquid, with a true and authentic co-innovation mind-set at its core, will become a great use case for SAP technology."

About Team Liquid
Team Liquid was founded in 2000 as a clan on the gaming platform Battle.net, and has now evolved into one of the leading international multigame esports teams with training centers in Utrecht, The Netherlands, and Los Angeles, California. Team Liquid has over 70 athletes competing across 13 distinct games, including all major esports titles, such as DOTA 2, League of Legends and CS:GO. Team Liquid is one of the most successful esports teams in the Western market in terms of competitive achievement and fan engagement across multiple sports. In 2017 its DOTA 2 team, led by German superstar Kuro "KuroKy" Salehi Takhasomi as team captain, won The International and took home the most important title and prize pool in the sport.

About SAP
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 378,000 business and public sector customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

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