A prize for innovation and creativity: companies from all over Germany presented with KfW Entrepreneurs’ Award

• 16 state winners and one national winner awarded
• Special prize awarded for Social Entrepreneurship
• The national winner is LuxChemtech from Saxony

This year’s KfW Entrepreneurs’ Awards were presented at a formal award ceremony yesterday evening in Berlin. The competition, which was held for the 25th time, involved participating companies from all sectors founded in or after 2017.

One company from each federal state was awarded the title of state winner. They each receive a prize of EUR 1,000. At the same time, they also competed for the national prize, which was awarded to LuxChemtech from Saxony. Among other things, the company recycles photovoltaic modules and recovers raw materials such as silicon, gallium, indium and lithium using mechanical and chemical processes. The national prize is endowed with a further EUR 9,000.

In addition, a Special Award for Social Entrepreneurship, endowed with EUR 5,000, was presented to Wildplastic from Hamburg. The company sells rubbish bags made from recycled plastic and collects plastic waste in countries without sufficient recycling systems to do so.

For the very first time, the KfW Capital Award was also presented at the event. Dr Manon Sarah Littek won in the Best Female Investor category; venture capital (VC) fund Extantia Capital and its management administration won in the Best Impact Investor category. The awards are endowed with EUR 5,000 each. You can find further information at www.kfw-capital.de/award.

Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and patron of the award, Dr Robert Habeck, stated that “In view of the many major challenges, such as climate change mitigation, digitalisation and demographic change, our country requires pioneering new business ideas more than ever. The award-winning teams of the KfW Entrepreneurs’ Award 2022 offer promising solutions for precisely these challenges, and prove that our country is full of ideas. This encourages us all and sets a good example for other entrepreneurs. I congratulate them and wish them every success.”

Stefan Wintels, Chief Executive Officer of KfW, stated that “We need courage, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit to successfully transform the economy and society in a sustainable way and to strengthen Germany as a location for technology. I would like to congratulate the award-winning founding teams; they are role models in this #decadeofdecision with their innovative solutions. As a digital transformation and promotional bank, KfW will continue to actively support young companies in the future, thereby strengthening the ecosystem for young companies in our country.”

An overview of the KfW Entrepreneurs' Award winners:

• Baden-Wuerttemberg: vialytics GmbH (road management system)

• Bavaria: Munevo GmbH (wheelchair control via smart glasses)

• Berlin: Enpal GmbH (rental of solar power systems)

• Brandenburg: Unverpackt Umgedacht GmbH (organic food in returnable jars)

• Bremen: RoBoTec PTC GmbH (production systems for plant propagation)

• Hamburg: Spacific GmbH (augmented and mixed reality applications)

• Hesse: Pipe Predict GmbH (AI early warning system for pipe networks)

• Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Nebula Biocides GmbH (disinfection system)

• Lower Saxony: AGVOLUTION GmbH (microclimate sensors)

• North Rhine-Westphalia: icho systems GmbH (digital therapy ball)

• Rhineland-Palatinate: QiTech Industries GmbH (modular machines for 3D printing systems)

• Saarland: natif.ai GmbH (AI-supported document analysis)

• Saxony: LuxChemtech GmbH (recycling of semiconductor materials)

• Saxony-Anhalt: Inflotec GmbH (systems for water treatment and pumping)

• Schleswig-Holstein: MARA-NF Seniorenbetreuung & Ambulante Pflege GbR (senior and outpatient care)

• Thuringia: Redwave Medical GmbH (medical algorithms for blood pressure measurement)

All state winners have also qualified for the people’s choice award, which is endowed with a further EUR 5,000 in prize money. People can place their vote until 15 November 2022 at:
www.fuer-gruender.de/kfw-award-gruenden-publikumspreis/

The winners were selected in a multi-stage process by an experienced jury made up of representatives from KfW, promotional institutions, business, politics and the media. They assessed the business ideas on their level of innovation, their creativity, and their social and environmental responsibility.

All companies are supported by a PR agency in the marketing of their success story. In addition, German TV channel n-tv will provide coverage of selected award winners as part of its “Startup Magazin” broadcast on 22 October 2022 at 10:30 am.

More information about the 2022 award winners is available at www.kfw.de/award (in German). Photos can be downloaded from
www.peperonihaus.de/kfw