The KfW Entrepreneurs' Award, an annual event recognizing innovative companies across Germany, took place in Berlin. Companies founded in or after 2019 from various sectors participated in the competition.
Stefan Wintels, CEO of KfW, stated: “With the KfW Entrepreneurs’ Award, we've been celebrating the courage and innovative strength of founders for over 25 years and offering a stage for these role models. Congratulations to this year’s award-winning founding teams. Their creative solutions are essential for the transformation of the economy and society, as well as for employment and prosperity. By promoting these entrepreneurs, KfW is making a contribution to strengthening entrepreneurship in Germany."
Each federal state named one company as its winner, with each receiving EUR 1,000. The national winner was 'farming revolution' from Baden-Wuerttemberg, recognized for developing a hoeing robot that uses AI to eliminate herbicides completely. This innovation earned them a prize of EUR 10,000.
A special prize went to 'wunderfish' from Berlin for creating fish alternatives using European organic seaweed and plant proteins. They received EUR 5,000.
Additionally, the KfW Capital Awards were presented at the event: Juliane Hahn (Signature Venture) won Best Female Investor; Xavier Sarras (4P Capital) was awarded Best Impact Investor; Nucleus Capital's Dr Isabella Fandrych and Maximilian Schwarz received Best Emerging Manager.
The state winners included:
- Baden-Wuerttemberg: farming revolution GmbH
- Bavaria: WeSort.AI GmbH
- Berlin: Quantune Technologies GmbH
- Brandenburg: pyropower GmbH
- Bremen: ito ito GmbH
- Hamburg: BLUU GmbH
- Hessen: MentalStark GmbH
- Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Bio24 Social gUG
- Lower Saxony: Datenschmiede.ai GmbH
- North Rhine-Westphalia: Retraced GmbH
- Rhineland-Palatinate: Doderm GmbH
- Saarland: SurFunction GmbH
- Saxony: SaxonQ GmbH
- Saxony-Anhalt: SOLAR MATERIALS GmbH
- Schleswig-Holstein: Smart Letter of Credit GmbH
- Thuringia: revincus GmbH
These winners qualify for a people’s choice award worth an additional EUR 5,000. Voting is open until November 29.
The selection process involved representatives from KfW and other institutions evaluating business ideas based on innovation and social responsibility.
Awarded companies receive PR support to market their achievements. Coverage will be provided by n-tv on November 9 during its "Startup Magazin" broadcast.