Financing
of startup projects
You have an innovative startup project and are looking for funding or seed capital to implement your startup idea?
The supervisors in the CEDUS team help to identify suitable funding programs and mediate financing options as well as investors during the process of setting up an enterprise. They connect entrepreneurs to funding institutions, banks, business angels and venture capital organizations.
In addition to state and federal funding programs, the Heinrich Heine University offers additional financing options for HHU startup projects. For technology-based startups, regional and national seed funds for external seed capital are also available.
Subsidies for founders
We support you in finding the right funding program and help you with the application process.
The EXIST subsidy supports students, graduates and scientists from universities and non-university research institutions who would like to turn their founding idea into a business plan.
In frequently asked questions, the EXIST Business Start-up Grant concerning, there are answers here. Please click on the appropriate question.
The EXIST Business Start-up Grant promotes ambitious innovative start-up projects in the early stages. Founders from universities are supported in the conception of a business plan for their founding idea.
It should be about
- innovative technology-oriented start-up projects or innovative
- knowledge-based services based on scientific evidence.
The maximum funding period is one year.
For further information regarding EXIST Business Start-up Grant please click here.
With EXIST research transfer, particularly technologically complex start-up projects are promoted, that means outstanding research-based start-up projects that involve risky development work.
The program consists of 2 phases:
- Phase I: Development work to demonstrate technological feasibility, development of prototypes, preparation of the business plan and founding of the company.
- Phase II: Further development work until marketability and commencement of business activities as well as creation of the conditions for external follow-up financing.
For further information regarding EXIST research transfer please click here.
With the biotechnology start-up initiative, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) funds start-up research teams with a life science orientation. The funded working groups will use GO-Bio to pursue new research approaches in life sciences and to prepare their commercial exploitation in a targeted manner.
The selection and decision-making process is two-tiered:
- First, the applicants will present project drafts in German or English for the respective submission deadline.
- In a second stage of the procedure, the selected candidates are invited to submit a formal application.
For further information regarding Biotechnology start-up initiative please click here.
The funding is intended to support people from NRW who are willing to set up their own company in order to further develop research results/know-how with great market potential and a convincing business concept and to implement them in the establishment of their own company. The program supports projects based on technological, business or social innovations.
The application procedure is a one-step, six-monthly process.
The maximum funding period is 18 months.
For further information regarding Start-up Transfer.NRW please click here.
The funding initiative VIP+ promotes scientists to examine and prove their research results potential and to open new scopes.
The validation is supported by theories of natural and technical scientific fields as well as by humanities, social sciences and cultural studies.
The application procedure is a single-level process.
The maximum funding term is three years.
For further information regarding VIP+ please click here.
The object of the funding is the identification and further development of life science exploitation ideas, preferably from the fields of "therapeutics", "diagnostics", "platform technologies" and "research tools", from their conceptual design to the verification of feasibility ("proof-of-principle", abbreviated to "PoP") and possible exploitation options.
The program consists of two funding phases:
1. exploratory phase, max. 1 year
2. feasibility phase, max. 24 months
For further information regarding Go-Bio-Initial please click here.
Participation of TTHU GmbH
Via its subsidiary TTHU GmbH, the HHU can participate in its university spin-offs.
TTHU GmbH fundamentally strives to secure an initial participation in a spin-off and in return receives shares in the company or a share of turnover or profit. It generally acts as a minority shareholder.
Other seed financing then takes place, for example, through the High-Tech Gründerfonds and/or the Sirius Seedfonds Düsseldorf.
External Financing
You can find a listing of some Düsseldorf investors here.
For many years the Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf supports research and teaching at universities of the state capital. As one of the regional most successful founders bank they offer promoted by other strong partners like state capital Düsseldorf and the NRW.BANK individual solutions for innovative financing projects. Services:
- Feedback on business plan
- Individual finance solutions
- Use of public subsidies
- Business insurances
- Private additional insurance
- Company pension
- Mediation of collaboration partners
For further information please click here.
The High-Tech Gründerfonds is a common project of the federal government, the german industry and the KfW Banking Group to finance the initial capital of technology-based founding projects.
Since 2005 the High-Tech Gründerfonds finances young technology companies at good rates and actively assists the management with a strong network and entrepreneurial knowledge.
For further information please click here.
Along with strong regional partners - the Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf, the S-Kapitalbeteiligungsgesellschaft Düsseldorf mbH, the state capital Düsseldorf and the NRW.BANK - Sirius Venture Partners initiate the Sirius Seedfonds Düsseldorf since 2007.
The Seedfonds offers growth capital and knowledge to young innovative technology companies for starting and expanding their business models. It is primarily focused on companies close to being launched on the market.
The emphasis of invest will be on Life Science, biotechnology, mediacal technology, ICT and new materials.
For further information please click here.
Founded in 2012 Fundsters was the first crowdfunding platform in Germany that enables investments in companies and financing of projects for private individuals.
Whereas a real equity participation leads the investor to participate in profit and value appreciation, returns of backers are payments in kind or symbolic recognition.Their approved prospect by the BaFin allows Fundster to offer fundings of dimensions more than € 100.000.
For further information please click here.
1stMOVER is an incubator for start-ups who develop innovative products and services of mobile web: a mobile web incubator. They collaborate with a network of experts in the field of business development, product and project management, coding, design, marketing, PR and sales.
For further information please click here.