The EXIST Founder's Grant supports students, graduates, and academics who want to start their own business. For 12 months, funded founders receive monthly support to help them secure their livelihood.
Last year, 426 applications for the EXIST start-up grant were received – more than ever since the start of the program in 2007. The number of approved start-up projects also reached a new high of 229. Compared to the previous year, 2019, this represents an increase of 63 applications and 10 approvals. The approval rate was 54 percent.
Bavarian founders most frequently supported with start-up grants
Most of the approved applications were submitted by the Technical University of Munich. 17 founding teams from Munich University were able to secure the Founders' Grant in 2020. RWTH Aachen University follows in second place with 15 grants, followed by TU Darmstadt and the University of Stuttgart with seven grants each. Munich University of Applied Sciences ranks fifth with six approved applications.
"We are very pleased with our excellent record in EXIST approvals last year. This confirms the consistently high quality of our startup teams and founders at HM, who make it possible to achieve approvals with this continuity,"
says Herbert Gillig, Head of SCE/HM Start-up Support.
“With six applications submitted and just as many approvals, we are particularly proud of our 100 percent funding rate.”
Most successful applications for an EXIST start-up grant came from Bavaria (49 approvals out of 89 applications), followed by North Rhine-Westphalia (36 approvals out of 75 applications) and Baden-Württemberg (31 approvals out of 78 applications).
The proportion of female founders increased from 16 percent to 18 percent compared to 2019. The most popular technology fields in 2020 included software with 150 applications, followed by the Internet with 64 applications and communications technologies with 35 applications.
