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SAP Closes €1bn Bet on Spreadsheet AI
SAP has completed its more than €1bn acquisition of Prior Labs, betting on open AI models for spreadsheets, databases, and enterprise data.
Image: TNW
SAP has completed its acquisition of Prior Labs, closing a more than €1bn bet on AI models built for spreadsheets and databases rather than chatbots. Regulatory approvals are secured, and the Freiburg-based lab now operates inside the German software company.
What Prior Labs builds
Most foundation models work with text, images, or audio. Prior Labs focuses on tabular data: the rows and columns that underpin business systems.
Its TabPFN model, published in Nature, set the state of the art for tabular prediction across hundreds of independent studies. The model forecasts and classifies data from spreadsheets and databases, with applications including:
- Financial risk assessment
- Loan approvals
- Predictive maintenance on railways
- Cancer diagnostics
SAP will invest more than €1bn over four years in the effort.
Why SAP bought Prior Labs
SAP’s core business is enterprise data stored in company systems—the same structured information Prior Labs' models are designed to process. The acquisition addresses a gap that many businesses still struggle with: applying AI effectively to structured data while investment continues to flow into conversational systems.
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SAP has been pushing toward an “autonomous enterprise” built on more than 200 AI agents, while also adding automation to its AI studio. The company even froze hiring and travel to help fund that push.
The deal also represents a rare European success story. SAP has acquired a European AI lab while keeping it open and independent. Prior Labs will retain its brand, Freiburg base, open-source models, and an advisory board that includes Meta’s Yann LeCun.
That structure contrasts with the fate of several other prominent European AI companies, which have merged into or been absorbed by larger entities.
Microsoft, Google, and AWS are also developing models for structured data. By acquiring one of the most credible independent efforts, SAP is betting that enterprise AI’s next major opportunity lies in information companies already possess—not only in systems that write emails, but in models that predict loan defaults or railway failures.
Enterprise Editor
Marcus follows the money. He covers enterprise software, cloud architecture, and the tectonic shifts in Big Tech strategy. He translates dense earnings calls and complex M&A activity into actionable insights about where the industry is actually heading. If a tech giant makes a silent pivot, Marcus is usually the first to notice.
via TNW
