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Grants

North Rhine-Westphalia Start-up Stipend

Gründungsstipendium NRW

Status

Status not published

Jury pitches via the regional Gründungsnetzwerke; no fixed deadline. Scheme continues from 1 Oct 2026 under a revised Richtlinie (amount and duration unchanged). The earlier pause of jury sessions is no longer shown on the official site.

Open now
Amount
€1,500

"1.200 Euro pro Monat. Für 1 Jahr" per founder. Gender-diverse teams receive "1.500 Euro statt 1.200 Euro pro Monat" plus a one-off bonus of up to €3,600 per person.

Funder

Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Industrie, Klimaschutz und Energie des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen

public · regional

Deadline: Open all year — Jury pitches via the regional Gründungsnetzwerke; no fixed deadline. Scheme continues from 1 Oct 2026 under a revised Richtlinie (amount and duration unchanged). The earlier pause of jury sessions is no longer shown on the official site.

Your odds
Not published

This funder does not publish a success rate. We rank it using the rate observed across similar programmes and label it as an estimate rather than implying we know.

Effort
moderate

Moderate — a form and supporting documents.

This is de minimis aid. It counts against the €300,000 ceiling that applies to your company across a rolling three years in this member state (Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/2831). If a new award would take you over, Article 3(7) disqualifies that award in full rather than reducing it — so check your headroom before you apply, not after. Check your headroom for Germany.

Who can apply

For people "die in die Start-up-Szene einsteigen wollen" with an innovative business idea in North Rhine-Westphalia. An uplift applies to gender-diverse founding teams. Awarded as de minimis aid; the de minimis basis was not restated on the page verified.

How to apply

  1. Choose an accredited Gründungsnetzwerk in NRW. — link
  2. Develop the innovative business idea with the network's support.
  3. Pitch the idea to the network's jury; on approval the stipend runs for one year — jury sessions are currently paused.

What you will need

Related reading: How grant deadlines actually work · What is de minimis aid?

Apply on the funder's site

Source. https://www.gruenderstipendium.nrw/

"Fortsetzung des Stipendiums ab 01.10.2026: ... Die Richtlinie ... tritt am 01. Oktober 2026 in Kraft. An der bisherigen Förderhöhe und -dauer ändert sich nichts"

Last checked against the official page on 5 October 2026

Source: funder's homepage — the programme page was not found

Report an error Something wrong or out of date? Tell us.

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Paid, separate from Unclaimed

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