Are you a migrant founder in Berlin, have an interest in founding a business in Berlin or intend to relocate to Berlin and start up afterwards? In this case, finding out more about the Berlin Startup Scholarship might be beneficial and a way to start your research! This article provides an overview of the Berlin Startup Scholarship from beginning to end – answering who is eligible to receive the scholarship, what is supported, the conditions of the support and previously supported businesses!
The Berlin Startup Scholarship: Turning Dreams Into Reality…
As the Berlin School of Economics and Law has summed up, the Berlin Startup Scholarship is for founders who have at least a Bachelor’s degree and intend to work full-time on their individual start-up project in order to make great things happen! Thereby, a minimum of 60 hours a month need to be worked from a previously determined working space. Whereas it is highly desirable that at least one of the aspiring founding members of start-ups with an interest in the Berlin Startup Scholarship possess a connection with the Berlin School of Economics and Law, the latter is not a final condition. Notably, founders cannot be supported through both the EXIST Startup Grant and the Berlin Startup Scholarship at once. Especially because language hurdles are quite often an issue when it comes to starting up in Germany as a migrant founder, be informed that the Berlin Startup Scholarship allows an application and a pitch in English, even if the application documents are in German.
What is supported through the Berlin Startup Scholarship are mainly technology-influenced start-up projects, which are either knowledge-based or show a creative orientation, as it states on the website of the Berlin School of Economics and Law. Start-up teams need to be composed of at least two and not more than three members, prove their competence through the development of a business model aimed at long-term economic success and open to mentoring by a professor. In addition, they need to be at the start of their career. Already registered and founded companies are not eligible for the Berlin Startup Scholarship.
In terms of the support, start-ups can expect to receive €2,000 per month for six months for a maximum of three team members. Next to this lump sum payment, start-ups will be embedded in the infrastructure and networks of the Startup Incubator (SIB) at the Berlin School of Economics and Law. Among others, its infrastructure includes a working place, a prototyping lab and a design thinking lab. Should a start-up be eligible for intensive coaching, there will also be an additional coaching budget of €1,000, which might demonstrate that the Berlin Startup Scholarship truly is for those who want to become an entrepreneur rather than those who already are (co-)founders.
Learning From Success Stories, Building Up Own Ideas in 2022
Attend a Meeting until 8th April, Upload your Documents until 17th April
If you do not want to miss the chance to participate in the Berlin Startup Scholarship competition this year, you and your potential founding members should certainly team up soon! First, the Berlin Startup Scholarship foresees an initial meeting – to get to know you and, so that you can get to know them! It is possible to arrange a meeting via this link. In addition, there are a couple of online information events – in case you are not yet sure about entering the competition and are seeking for more information to make this important decision! You can either attend on 9th, 23rd or 31st March and click on attend to find the link to the registrations for this purpose!
Should you both stay interested in this scholarship and be so happy to be selected, your application documents will be screened on 22nd April, preselection results will be out by 26th April, on 27th April the Mentor Day will kick off your mentor search, by 8th May you will have found your final mentor and by 12th May – you will finally pitch your business idea for selection! Just four days after this, on 16th May, you will receive the results and by 25th May – all will be sealed! Does this get you excited? If the answer is yes – do not wait, take action! After all life is all about trying new things out – to fail or not to fail is not the question – to (learn from) experience or stagnate, it is! With the Berlin Startup Scholarship starting on 1st June of this year and ending on 30th November, what does need to be remembered is, the latter is a short time period.
Whereas the Berlin Startup Scholarship is a great kick-off opportunity, it is not the end and embedding your business idea in a wider perspective, also in terms of funding, early on – certainly could be key in splitting up goals into subgoals. Certainly, it is also a good idea to get yourself inspired by the work of previous scholarship holders and their approach to business! Are you curious to hear some of their stories? Then read on below!
Pre-Seed Teams On The Way To Success…
As the Berlin Startup Map reveals, the Startup Incubator Berlin has so far supported at least 40 companies through the Berlin Startup Scholarship. As for some, there is no valuation available via the Berlin Startup Map, it cannot directly be spotted, which are the most successful companies – but, LAWIO received a total of €1 million in funding from various investors and is valued at approximately €4-6 million, Deckart A.I. received a total of €277 thousand and is valued at €1-2 million, HelloCoach received €210 thousand in funding and Matchbase received €70 thousand in funding. However, while receiving initial funding certainly is a good indicator how a business idea is received, the latter does not mean that a business will remain successful in practice and over time.
As a quick search suggests, only the on-demand football club Matchbase and LAWIO are still somewhat active in different ways on social media. HelloCoach, a “digital hub for recreational sport teams” is still active, but has not received any new funding since 2015 and Deckart A.I. was closed in 2017 according to insights from Crunchbase. The latter reemphasizes that starting up a business truly is a process, which takes time and might also require to keep adapting to a new time spirit – especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Whereas for start-ups such as Impact Hub, no valuation is explicitly mentioned on the Berlin Startup Map, it can certainly be said that this start-up has been one of the more successful ones.
In a nutshell, Impact Hub was founded in 2008 by Fayelle Ouane, Henrique Bussacos and Mohamed Keita and is a co-working space, which allows entrepreneurs to work together towards environmental and sustainability-related projects. With its headquarters being located in Vienna and its founders coming from Brazil and Mali, Impact Hub might be so successful, because it connects the world. As its website reveals, actually Impact Hub is embedded in a larger narrative. It did not start with the work of Ouane, Bussacos and Keita, but it started in 2005 “with one community, in one city”. To date, Impact Hub is composed of more than 100 communities in more than 60 countries and 5 regions across the globe. It thrives on collaboration, partnership, networking and the international community. If you want to find out more, click here! And let yourself be told…Success is a process, but a good idea is based on understanding what people want and what is scalable. Have a scalable idea and an innovative plan in mind? Then we hope that the Berlin Startup Scholarship could be a kick-start opportunity for your business!
Centurion Plus
Are you on the pathway to become an entrepreneur in Germany? Then our team is ready to support you with virtual, on-site, on-call and on-demand services in relation to legal questions around the set up of your company! Whether the Berlin Startup Scholarship may be an opportunity for you or not, our team is ready to minimize the administrative, legal and regulatory headache so that you can optimally promote the work of your start-up or SME in Germany! Next to having an office in Frankfurt since 2020 and being specialized on supporting start-ups and SMEs on the German market, we additionally have various African offices and can provide support across different African jurisdictions if needed. Contact us for an initial consultation here and find out more!
