Women in Berlin who are looking to start a business have chosen the right moment; the city has launched a new funding program to encourage more women to found their own companies.

Womens’ GründerinnenBONUS launches in Berlin

From September 25, women in Berlin who would like to start a business in Germany, or a startup whose shareholders are predominantly women, can apply for extra government funding from the Senate of Economy, Energy and Services. Successful GründerinnenBONUS applicants will receive 100.000 euros in funding.

The new scheme will be available on top of existing government funding, the GründungsBONUS, which offers successful applicants 50.000 for their new business and for which anyone in Berlin can apply.

In recent years Berlin has increasingly become the city of startups, but in 2023 only one in three commercial companies in the capital were founded by women. Among tech startups, this figure drops to one in five.

"We want and need more women in business, in all functions and at all levels in companies. This starts with company foundations and startups. Here, Berlin does well in a nationwide comparison, but [...] There is still a lot of room for improvement if we really want to fully exploit all our talents and potential,” Economics Senator Franziska Giffey said in a press release.

More money for craftswomen

Alongside the GründerinnenBONUS, Berlin has also announced that women craftspeople in trades where women are under-represented can also apply for the extra funding - 5.000 euros on top of the existing 10.000 euro grant.

Both schemes are part of the wider “Opportunity Fund”. So far, 500.000 euros have been made available for 2023 applications for the GründerinnenBONUS alone and a total of 7 million euros has been allocated for the fund as a whole in the 2024 / 2025 budget.

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