INVEST – Grant for venture capital (acquisition grant)
INVEST – Zuschuss für Wagniskapital (Erwerbszuschuss)
Status not published
Rolling. The company applies for an eligibility certificate first, then the investor applies before the share purchase contract is signed.
15% of the investment amount is reimbursed to the business angel. Minimum qualifying investment 10.000 EUR; maximum 100.000 EUR grant per investor per year; maximum 3 Mio. EUR of qualifying investment per company per year across all investors.
Bundesamt für Wirtschaft und Ausfuhrkontrolle (BAFA)
public · national
Deadline: rolling — Rolling. The company applies for an eligibility certificate first, then the investor applies before the share purchase contract is signed.
This funder does not publish a success rate. We rank it using the rate observed across similar programmes and label it as an estimate rather than implying we know.
Moderate — a form and supporting documents.
This is de minimis aid. It counts against the €300,000 ceiling that applies to your company across a rolling three years in this member state (Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/2831). If a new award would take you over, Article 3(7) disqualifies that award in full rather than reducing it — so check your headroom before you apply, not after.
Who can apply
- Under 7 years old
- Up to 49 employees
- Turnover up to 10,000,000
- small enterprises
- Stage: pre_seed, seed, series_a
- Locally registered entity required
Company: less than 7 years old, under 50 employees, turnover or balance-sheet total under 10 Mio. EUR, legal entity registered in the EEA with operations in Germany. Investor: natural person resident in the EEA (or a Business Angels GmbH/UG with max 10 shareholders), first-time investor in that company, not connected to it, must hold the shares at least 3 years.
How to apply
- Company applies to BAFA for a Förderfähigkeitsbescheinigung (eligibility certificate). — link
- Investor submits their own application to BAFA. — link
- Share purchase agreement is signed only after both applications are submitted.
- After the shares are acquired and paid, the investor claims the reimbursement.
What you will need
- Company eligibility application incl. business description
- Investor application
- Share purchase / investment agreement
- Proof of payment of the investment
Source. https://www.bafa.de/DE/Wirtschaft/Beratung_Finanzierung/Invest/invest_node.html — checked 2026-08-14
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