The early phase of a start-up in particular often determines how efficiently a team can work later on. If central processes are organized in a large number of individual Excel lists and isolated tools, media disruptions, unnecessary coordination efforts and a lack of transparency quickly arise. In order to support start-ups in setting up resilient and scalable structures at an early stage, the SCE is launching a partnership with Zoho.
Zoho offers an integrated suite of more than 50 applications that cover key business areas such as CRM, marketing, finance, HR, collaboration and project management. Instead of connecting many individual solutions via complex interfaces, start-ups gain access to a platform on which processes interact natively. The goal: the infrastructure should scale with growth - not the complexity and not the costs.
The partnership brings concrete benefits for SCE teams. Participating startups receive Zoho Wallet Credits worth up to 4,000 euros and can use almost all Zoho applications over a longer period of time. In addition, there is startup-specific onboarding, direct access to relevant resources and support from contact persons who are familiar with the requirements of young companies.
Another advantage lies in the early professionalization of internal processes. Well-maintained CRM structures, transparent sales processes and organized financial data not only create greater efficiency in day-to-day business, but also contribute to investor readiness. Transparent and reliable data structures are a real added value, especially with regard to initial due diligence processes.
From Q2 2026, the partnership will also be supplemented by regular virtual office hours with Zoho experts. This will give startups the opportunity to discuss specific questions about tools, processes and implementation directly with the Zoho team.
Workshop
A first joint highlight is the two-day workshop
"Accelerate your Sales & Marketing Pipeline: Zoho CRM Automation Workshop"
on April 29 and 30, 2026 at SCE Creative Hall. The workshop will be held in English and is open not only to SCE teams, but also to external start-ups. The focus will be on the structured development of a CRM and marketing setup, the creation of initial automations and the development of an end-to-end sales and marketing funnel - from website and lead capture to campaigns, nurturing, analytics and customer engagement.
"Many start-ups don't fail because of their idea, but because of processes that are set up professionally too late. With Zoho, we are creating low-threshold access for our teams to an integrated infrastructure that grows with the company, from CRM and marketing to finance. This allows founders to lay the foundation for efficient work and a setup that is also convincing in terms of investor readiness at an early stage." - Prof. Dr. Christian Klusmann, Head of Start-up Support at the SCE
Zoho for Startups partner portal
Register now for the Zoho for Startups program:
To the Zoho partner portal