aws Seedfinancing – Deep Tech
Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) · Conditionally repayable grant
$1.2MUp to €889,000 (80% of costs); up to €1,000,000 (~$1.16M) at 90% with gender bonus — conditionally repayable
Austria's flagship deep-tech seed funding: up to €889k (or €1M with gender bonus) to take TRL-6-level technology to a marketable product. Non-dilutive but conditionally repayable.
Key terms
- Conditionally repayable, interest-free: repaid only from profits, company sale or asset sale, over a 9–12-year contract
- Company in foundation phase (≤5 years; apply ≤54 months after start) and before the project begins
- <50 employees and <€10M turnover or balance sheet
- At least 10% of costs from shareholders (5% with gender bonus); funding rate 80%/90%
- Quarterly jury; stated success rate 25%
Eligibility
- Where
- Austria
- Stages
- pre-seed, seed
- Max company age
- 5 years
- Needs VC/accelerator backing
- No
- Needs partner referral code
- No
- Must be incorporated
- Yes
- AI focus required
- No
- Students / researchers
- Not eligible
- Nonprofits
- Not eligible
Also required
- Deep-tech project ~TRL 6 with IP-protected advantage
- <50 employees
How to apply
Read the Preseed/Seedfinancing programme document and FAQ, then submit via the aws Fördermanager; contact aws for a pre-check.
- Benefit
- cash
- Equity-free
- Yes
- Decision time
- —
- Credit validity
- —
- Deadline
- Rolling (quarterly jury decisions)
- Status
- Open
Verified 2026-10 · source