aws Preseed – Deep Tech
Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) · Deep-tech pre-seed grant
$324KGrant up to €267,000 (80%), or up to €300,000 (90%) with gender bonus
Austrian pre-seed grant for deep-tech teams building a proof of concept/prototype (typ. TRL 3) with strong IP and growth potential.
Key terms
- Natural persons or micro-enterprises; pre-founding or ≤6 months after commercial-register entry
- Clear technological leap with protectable IP potential
- At least 10% of costs from founders' own funds; applicant may hold only this one company
- Current period ends 31 Dec 2026; 2027–2029 terms pending
Eligibility
- Where
- Austria
- Stages
- idea, pre-seed
- Max company age
- 0.5 years
- Needs VC/accelerator backing
- No
- Needs partner referral code
- No
- Must be incorporated
- No
- AI focus required
- No
- Students / researchers
- Not eligible
- Nonprofits
- Not eligible
How to apply
Apply online via aws Fördermanager; jury decisions roughly quarterly (~25% success).
- Benefit
- cash
- Equity-free
- Yes
- Decision time
- —
- Credit validity
- —
- Deadline
- Rolling until 2026-12-31 (2027 terms TBA)
- Status
- Open
Verified 2026-10-23 · source