Startup grants and programs in Germany (2026)
We track 22 programs open to startups in Germany beyond the worldwide ones: 11 national or local and 11 regional programs that include Germany. 21 are open now and 1 is paused until their next round. By type: Government Grants (12), Research & Students (4), Business SaaS (2), GPU & Compute (2), AI Models & APIs (1).
The largest headline value among open national or local programs is Prototype Fund from Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) / OKF DE (Up to €158,000 (~$171k) per team or ~€79,000 per individual (6-month funding phase +…). 10 of the national programs are government grants, vouchers or tax credits; 2 of them come from German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs (BMWE). 4 accept students or researchers. The next dated deadline or opening is 4 November 2026 (EIC Accelerator). On top of these, 234 worldwide programs (mostly cloud, AI and software credits) are open to Germany-based startups; the eligibility checker filters all of them for your company.
Guides: Startup grants in Germany (2026): EXIST, state programs and EU grants compared · Innovation vouchers in Europe (2026): amounts and rules compared
National and local programs in Germany (11)
| Program | What you get | Type | Status | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prototype FundFederal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) / OKF DE | Up to €158,000 (~$171k) per team or ~€79,000 per individual (6-month funding phase + 4-month Second Stage), plus coaching | Open-source grant | Open | 2026-10-30 |
| InnoRampUpIFB Hamburg | Grant up to €150,000 (~$162k) per startup, covering up to 90% of eligible costs | Startup grant | Open | 2026-10-30 |
| EXIST Business Start-up Grant (Gründungsstipendium)German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs (BMWE) | 12-month stipends of €3,000/mo (PhD), €2,500 (graduates), €2,000 (vocational), €1,000 (students) + €150/child; team material budget… | Founder stipend | Open | 2026-10-22 |
| Transfer BONUSIBB Business Team (Berlin) | €7,500 at 100% (entry); up to €15,000 at 70% (standard); up to €45,000 (~$48.6k) at 70% for digital or gamification/XR projects | Innovation voucher | Open | 2026-10-30 |
| Innovationsgutschein Start-up BWL-Bank / Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs | Up to €20,000 (~$21.6k), covering 50% of R&D services invoiced by a research institution | Innovation voucher | Open | 2026-10-30 |
| Gründungsstipendium.NRWMinistry of Economic Affairs NRW | €1,200/month (~$1.3k) for 12 months plus coaching; gender-diverse teams can get €1,500/month | Founder stipend | Open | 2026-10-30 |
| InnoStartBonusSächsische Aufbaubank (SAB) | €1,050/month (~$1.1k) per founder for up to 12 months, plus €150/month per child | Founder stipend | Open | 2026-10-30 |
| EXIST WomenGerman Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs (BMWE) | €2,000 material budget per founder + up to 3 months stipend at €1,000–€3,000/month (by qualification) + €150/child, within a 10-month… | Founder programme (women) | Open | 2026-10-22 |
| Forschungszulage (German R&D Tax Allowance)Bescheinigungsstelle Forschungszulage / German tax authorities | Allowance of 25% of eligible R&D costs (35% for SMEs); maximum assessment base €12M per year for costs from 1 Jan 2026 (max ~€3M/yr, €4.2M… | R&D tax credit | Open | 2026-10-22 |
| Rippling Startup StackRippling | Up to 6 months free on Rippling products (subscription + implementation), first 3 months of EOR free; dollar value not stated | HR / Payroll | Open | 2026-10 |
| Start?Zuschuss!Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs (StMWi) | 50% of eligible costs, max €36,000 (~$39k) | Startup grant | Paused: opens Nov 25, 2026 | 2026-10-30 |
Regional programs that include Germany (11)
| Program | What you get | Where | Status | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EIC AcceleratorEuropean Innovation Council (European Commission) | Grant below €2.5M (TRL 6–8, ≤24 months) plus optional €1–10M equity/quasi-equity via the EIC Fund (blended finance) | EU | Open | 2026-10-23 |
| Women TechEU 2European Innovation Council (European Commission) | €75,000 (~$81k) non-dilutive grant + mentoring, coaching and training | EU | Open | 2026-10-30 |
| UpCloud Startup ProgramUpCloud | Up to $25,000 in cloud credits (Tier 1); $5,000 for Nordic startups (Tier 2); $1,000 for other EU/EEA/UK/CH startups (Tier 3), plus… | 7 countries | Open | 2026-10-30 |
| Lambda Cloud compute offer for Y Combinator companiesLambda | $20,000 in Lambda Cloud credits for on-demand GPU instances | 18 countries | Open | 2026-10-22 |
| fal Startup Programfal | $1,000 starter pack, growing to $2,500 and $5,000 as monthly fal spend rises | Europe, Asia | Open | 2026-10-22 |
| Lambda Cloud credits for NVIDIA Inception membersLambda | $1,000 in Lambda Cloud credits for on-demand GPU instances (B200, H100, A100, GH200) | 18 countries | Open | 2026-10-22 |
| EuroHPC AI Factories — Fast Lane AccessEuroHPC Joint Undertaking | Up to 50,000 GPU hours free for 1–3 months | EU | Open | 2026-10-22 |
| EuroHPC AI Factories — Large Scale AccessEuroHPC Joint Undertaking | More than 50,000 GPU hours free (up to millions per proposal) for 3–12 months | EU | Open | 2026-10-22 |
| EuroHPC AI Factories — Playground AccessEuroHPC Joint Undertaking | Free entry-level GPU allocation on an EU AI Factory supercomputer for 1–3 months | EU | Open | 2026-10-22 |
| Google Cloud Research CreditsGoogle | Google Cloud credits sized to your proposal (amount not stated on page), valid 1 year | 75 countries | Open | 2026-10-22 |
| Zoho for StartupsZoho | Zoho Wallet credits in two stages (amount not shown on page), valid 360 days, usable across Zoho apps | 23 countries | Open | 2026-10-22 |
Other countries
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Program terms change often. Open a program to see its official source and verification date, and confirm on the provider's page before you apply. Spotted something out of date? Report a correction.