aws Preseed – Innovative Solutions
Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) · Pre-seed grant
$108KNon-repayable grant up to €89,000 (80% funding rate); up to €100,000 at 90% with gender bonus
Austrian pre-seed grant for impact-driven innovative startups developing a prototype or proof of concept (non-deep-tech).
Key terms
- Pre-founding teams or companies up to 6 months after commercial-register entry
- Project located in Austria; all sectors except deep tech
- Social/ecological impact must be core to the project
- At least 10% of costs from shareholders' own funds
- 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
Also required
- Gender bonus where women hold >25% of shares
How to apply
Apply online on aws Fördermanager; decisions roughly quarterly (~10% 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