Berlin, September 18, 2023 – Berlin has launched a new funding initiative, Gründerinnen BONUS Berlin, to specifically attract more women into the city’s business world and support their start-up ideas. This funding program builds on the already successful GründungsBONUS program, a grant program for innovative start-ups. With the GründungsBONUS, founders can apply for up to 50,000 euros as a grant for their projects. Now women have the opportunity to receive an additional 10,000 euros in funding for their projects if the GründungsBONUS application was previously successful.
The Gründerinnen BONUS Berlin is part of the Chancenfonds, a package of measures launched by the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises to strengthen financing and advisory support for female founders in Berlin. In the current year 2023, a total of 500,000 euros is available for the GründerinnenBONUS.
In the upcoming 2024/2025 double budget, which is currently being discussed in parliament, 1 million euros have been earmarked annually for this program. The application period begins on September 25, 2023. Companies that are mainly run by female founders or in which women hold the majority of shares are eligible to apply.
You can find more information on how to apply here: Link to the application
Franziska Giffey, Berlin’s Senator for Economic Affairs, emphasizes the importance of this programme: “We want and need more women in the economy, in all positions and at all levels of companies. This starts with the founding of companies and start-ups. Although Berlin is already doing well in a nationwide comparison, the proportion of start-ups founded by women is only one in five.
There is still a lot of potential here to make full use of all our talents and skills. It is crucial for Berlin as a business location to show that Berlin is a city of women and that women can do anything – including in business. With our Opportunity Fund, we are working on overcoming structural barriers for female founders and encouraging more women to set up businesses.
After all, we want to become Europe’s innovation leader and to do so we need the entire innovative strength of our city. This will hopefully also send a strong signal beyond Berlin if the capital consciously uses diversity and female entrepreneurship as a strength of its business environment.”
The opportunity fund
Despite the steadily growing importance of women in the economy, they are still strongly underrepresented in business start-ups. Only one in three commercial companies in Berlin is currently founded by a woman, and in the case of technology-oriented start-ups, this proportion is only one in five.
The Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises has therefore developed an opportunity fund in collaboration with key players from the startup ecosystem, which bundles various measures to increase the proportion of female founders and entrepreneurs in Berlin.
In addition to the GründerinnenBONUS, these measures include the following:
- An increased premium for women setting up master craftsmen in trades in which they are underrepresented. In addition to the standard grant of 10,000 euros, female master craftsmen receive a bonus of 5,000 euros.
- Advice and coaching services offered by the Start-up Center.
- The Female Founder Scholarship, which is already funded with around 1 million euros and awarded via the startup incubator GRACE. From 2024, a further call for funding will specifically address project sponsors who are committed to accompanying and supporting female founders.
- Regular start-up roundtables organized by the economic administration with players from the start-up ecosystem.
A total of 7 million euros has been earmarked for the entire package of measures in the 2024/2025 dual budget.
