KfW Entrepreneurs’ Award 2022 – Successful start-ups wanted

• Online applications can be submitted from 1 April to 1 July
• Businesses established in or after 2017 can take part
• Prizes will be awarded to one company from each German federal state and there will also be one winner of the national award
• Special Award for Social Entrepreneurship
• Other special prizes: the KfW Capital Awards for Best Female Investor and Best Impact Investor
• The prize fund amounts to EUR 45,000 in total

The application phase for this year’s KfW Entrepreneurs’ Award worth EUR 45,000 in total will start on 1 April 2022. Young companies and start-ups from all sectors that were founded from 2017 onwards can participate. As in the previous year, the 2022 competition is also affected by the coronavirus pandemic and it aims to give special recognition to the tremendous achievements of young companies during this challenging time. How did businesses manage to overcome the crisis? Have new ideas emerged as a result? Entrepreneurs who have taken over a business as a result of succession are also eligible to apply. The businesses must be based in Germany.

The winners will be selected by a panel of judges made up of experienced representatives from KfW, promotional banks, politics and the business community. The panel will judge the business ideas based on their levels of innovation and creativity. Social added value and company values (for example, diversity and employee-friendliness) will also play a decisive role in the judgement. Additionally, criteria for the award include how environmentally sustainable an idea is when realised, and whether jobs have been created or preserved.

A prize will be awarded to one business from each of the German federal states. These businesses must have been formed or taken over as part of a succession process in or after 2017. Each winning business will receive a cash prize of EUR 1,000. They will then go on to compete for the national award, which comprises an additional EUR 9,000 in prize money. They will also have the opportunity to win a further cash prize of EUR 5,000 through the People’s Choice Award. A Special Award for Social Entrepreneurship worth EUR 5,000 will be given too.

In addition, KfW Capital, KfW’s subsidiary responsible for the equity investment business, will be awarding another special prize for the first time, the KfW Capital Award. This will be awarded for the categories of Best Female Investor and Best Impact Investor and will be worth EUR 5,000 in each case. With this award, KfW Capital aims to draw attention to the issues of diversity and impact – i.e. the effectiveness of an investment, as these are important for the further development of the VC ecosystem.

The prize winners will be announced on 19 October 2022. The TV channel n-TV will report on this in a special broadcast. The businesses will also receive support from an experienced PR agency when marketing their success stories.

KfW has been giving recognition to exceptional start-ups and businesses from all over Germany since 1998 through its KfW Entrepreneurs’ Award. In 2022, the KfW Entrepreneurs’ Award will be presented for the 25th time.

The online application form and other information are available at www.kfw-awards.de

Press contact:

KfW Entrepreneurs' Award

c/o Peperoni Werbe- und PR-Agentur GmbH, Friedrichstrasse 23 A, 10969 Berlin, Germany

Jan Beznoska, tel.: 030 257717–77, email: kfw_award@peperonihaus.de

KfW Capital Award: KfW Capital, Sonja Höpfner, sonja.hoepfner@kfw.de, +49-69-74314306, www.kfw-capital.de/award