Campus Founders Ventures GmbH

The financing instrument for innovative startups by the state of Baden-Württemberg.

introduction

Funding opportunity
for startups with a
headquarter in
Baden-Württemberg

You are a founder and need funding at an early stage? Your capital requirement is between €50.000 and €200.000? Are you looking for a support partner for your startup? Then Start-up BW Pre-Seed financing could be your solution.

Get Start-up
BW Pre-Seed
funding

Start-up BW Pre-Seed is a financing instrument for innovative startups with a connection to Baden-Württemberg. As a founder of a startup, you can apply for funding from the state of Baden-Württemberg through Campus Founders. Since applications are exclusively accepted through official accelerators like us, we are here to assist and support you throughout the application process. The total financing amount is a minimum of €50,000 and typically a maximum of €200,000. In exceptional cases, there is the possibility to increase the total financing amount to up to €400,000.

The financing amount is provided by two parties. On one side, L-Bank finances up to 80% of the total amount. On the other side, the startup commits to finding an Co-Investor for the remaining balance who will invest capital in the company.

Target Group

Young startups seeking their first investment.

Setup

Initial application, examination, application, decision-making committee.

Goals

Get Start-up BW Pre-seed funding

Timeline

5-6 decision-making committee each year.

Application requirements for Start-up BW Pre-Seed

1

The headquarters of your startup is located in Baden-Württemberg.
2

At least 50% of the founding team lives in Baden-Württemberg.
3

Your startup has the legal form of a GmbH, UG, or AG.
4

Your startup is growth-focused and is characterized by above-average innovation capabilities.
5

Thus far, your startup has not received more than 200K€ of equity financing from external parties.
6

Your startup is classified as a micro or small enterprise according to the criteria of the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER).
7

Your startup was founded within the last five years.
8

Although we prefer software startups, you can also apply if you have a Hardware startup.

Example

Consider a startup seeking financing of €200,000. To reach this amount, the startup must find an investor willing to contribute at least €40,000 [20% of the investment total]. The L-Bank covers the remaining 80%, equivalent to €160,000. The L-Bank thus quadruples the investment of the Co-Investor.

 The investor could be a business angel, a company, or another investment entity. There is the possibility that the investor may increase the investment to a maximum of 50% of the total investment amount. Since the L-Bank’s limit is €160,000, the investor can only raise their contribution up to €160,000.

Terms & Conditions

This is what Start-up BW Pre-Seed offers

1

A financial, interest-free support granted with a reservation for repayment and conversion during the base term. This base term is 2 years and can typically be extended multiple times, each time for 12 months. The usual maximum total duration is 5 years.
2

Instead of repayment, L-Bank may ask for an equity stake in the company.
3

In the event of success, there is an obligation to repay the provided financial support.