Funding programmes for founders

Competitions & support programs for impact start-ups

Are you founding a sustainable, social, or ecological business? Here you will find the most important current opportunities in North Rhine-Westphalia to receive financial support and valuable coaching for your project.

If you're interested in submitting your idea to one of the competitions, we can support you by reviewing and giving feedback on your pitches, outlines or business plan and prepare you for jury presentations.

Ongoing support programs for founders

The federal and state governments offer various scholarship programmes for prospective entrepreneurs. Here we introduce you to EXIST-Gründungsstipendium, Gründungsstipendium.NRW and EXIST-Forschungstransfer. If you are interested in one of the programmes, please contact Start-up-Manufaktur for more information.

The scholarships are non-repayable loans and finance your living expenses so that you can fully concentrate on your start-up project.

Requirements:

• Idea: You are working on an innovative technology-oriented start-up project or an innovative knowledge-based service that is based on scientific findings.
• Team: You are an individual founder or you are founding a team. In the case of a team start-up, up to three people can be funded; the start-up team itself can also be larger.

Amount of funding:

• Between €1,000 and €3,000 per month per person, depending on your most recent degree
• Funding period: 12 months
• Additional funding for material expenses (up to 10,000 €) and coaching services (up to 5,000 €)

Procedure

• The applicant for the EXIST-Gründungsstipendium is always the university.
• Applications can be submitted at any time.
• After reviewing the documents, the Project Management Organisation Jülich decides whether to accept or reject the application.
• Approved funds are paid out to the university, which administers them for the founding team
• Funded teams present the first results of the business plan after five months and submit the final business plan after ten months.

More information on the EXIST start-up grant can be found directly on the website:

Requirements:

• Idea: You have a business idea in the field of future-oriented technologies and innovative services.
• Team: You are an individual founder or you are founding a team. In the case of a team start-up, up to three people can be funded; the start-up team itself can also be larger.
• Foundation: Your company was founded no more than twelve months ago or is due to be founded in the next twelve months.
• Location: Your place of residence is in NRW.

Amount of funding:

• 1,000 per month per person
• Funding period: maximum 12 months
• Individual coaching

Procedure:

• The H-BRS advises and supports you in the application process and puts you in contact with an accredited start-up network.
• You prepare an idea paper and present your idea to a qualified jury.
• If the jury recommends funding, you submit an official funding application.
• Once the application has been approved, the funding period begins
• Applications can be submitted at any time.

You can find more information about the Gründungsstipendium.NRW directly on the website:

Requirements

Phase I of Funding

• Idea: You have an innovative idea with a high technical risk and have already been researching it for over a year. The realisation requires pure development work of at least one to one and a half year.
• Team: Funding is available for teams of three scientists from universities or non-university research institutions and one person with business management expertise. All team members must have at least a Master's degree.
• Company: The company must not have been founded at the start of the project, but may be founded during the period of funding.

Phase II of Funding

• In order to be eligible for phase II, the project must have successfully completed phase I and founded a GmbH.
• The company founded in Phase I is the applicant (not the university as in phase I ) and contributes its own funds to the funding in a ratio of 1:3.

Funding amount

Phase I of Funding

• between 0.5 million and 1.5 million euros (personnel expenses as well as material expenses up to a total of 250,000 €)
• Funding period: 18 months (optionally up to 36 months)

Phase II of Funding

• A maximum of 180,000 €, but no more than 75 percent of the specific costs of the project
  Funding period: 18 months

Procedure

Phase I of Funding

• The applicant is the university
• Project outlines can be submitted by 31.01 or 31.07.
• If the project outline is evaluated positively, the team pitches the project pitch before a jury of experts, who decide whether the project is accepted or rejected.
• Generally, the project can start at the earliest 6 months after submission of the project outline.

Phase II of Funding

• The application is submitted by the company established in Phase I
• The decision on funding in Phase II will again depend on the recommendation of the expert jury, which meets four times during the course of a year.
• Applications for Phase II of funding can already be submitted approx. 6 months before the end of Phase I.

More information on the EXIST Transfer of Research can be found directly on the website:

Requirements

• Idea: You are working on a project that is highly relevant to the environment (e.g., climate protection, resource efficiency, nature conservation) and at the same time has a viable business model and market potential.
• Team: Start-up teams (up to 3 people) or individual founders are eligible for funding. The company must not have been founded at the time the funding begins, or must have been founded no more than two years ago.
• Impact: Environmental sustainability must be at the core of your business model.

Funding amount

• €2,000 per month per person as a scholarship.
• Funding period: Usually 12 months (an extension of a further 12 months is possible under certain conditions).
• Additional funds: Provision of up to €10,000 for material expenses (e.g., prototype construction) and up to €10,000 for coaching services and expert advice.
• Network: Access to the large network of DBU scholarship holders and environmental award winners.

Procedure

• Stage 1: submission of project outline
• Stage 2 (if the evaluation is positive): submission of full application
• The most promising teams are invited to a personal pitch in front of a jury of experts, who decide on the final funding.
• The selection rounds usually take place twice a year (spring and fall).

You can find more information about the DBU Green Start-up Program directly on the website

Contact persons at Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg

The university is your first contact and partner when applying for either the EXIST programmes or the Start-up Grant NRW.

In our start-up consultation, we advise you on the right programme for you and give you feedback on your idea and the documents to be submitted.

Katharina Kämmer from ZWT will assist you with the application process.