Companies from all sectors that were founded after 2017 or whose succession has taken place since then are eligible to apply for the KfW Award for Founding. Participation is also open to founders who have taken over a company as part of a succession process. The companies must be based in Germany.
The competition aims to particularly recognize the achievements of young companies during the coronavirus pandemic: How were they able to overcome the crisis? Did it generate new ideas?
KfW Award Gründen is awarded together with KfW Capital Award
A jury consisting of representatives from KfW, development banks, politics, and business evaluates the business ideas based on their degree of innovation and creativity. Social added value and aspects such as diversity, employee-friendliness, sustainability, and job creation also play a key role in the evaluation.
One company from each federal state will be honored and receive €1,000. A national winner will be chosen from all the state winners, who will receive an additional €9,000. The prize in the "Audience Choice" category and the special "Social Entrepreneur" award each carry €5,000.
KfW Capital is also presenting the KfW Capital Award for the first time. The awards are presented in the categories "Best Female Investor" and "Best Impact Investor," each with prize money of €5,000. With these prizes, the KfW subsidiary aims to raise awareness of diversity and the impact of investments.
