Starting a Business in Berlin

74 75 Starting a Business in Berlin A Beginner’s Guide CROWD-FUNDING AND CROWD-INVESTING You should check the extent to which new types of financing are suitable for your start-up. Crowd-funding allows you to access capital to finance your business idea via an interested online community, whilst also relying upon this same crowd as a sales channel or multiplier. Crowd-investing is another interesting prospect for start-ups with a particular emphasis on growth, and generally involves the crowd participating in a mezzanine investment in the company. Crowd investors stand to benefit from a share in the profits or through the profitable sale of the start-up further down the line (exit). How to set up crowd-funding and crowd-investing Check whether the business idea is suitable for crowd-fun- ding or crowd-in- vesting Plan crowd- funding cam- paign, select the type of crowd-finan- cing and plat- form, define target amount and deadline Prepare necessary documents (story, pitch, videos, and any perks) Launch the campaign and marketing activities Achieve objective and receive capital Minimum requirements for a crowd-funding/crowd-inves- ting campaign ls Willingness to present the business model in a public forum ls Extensive network and interest in exchanges with the crowd ls Detailed project planning incl. milestones ls Innovative business idea with positive growth prospects ls Impressive management/team of founders ls Professional business plan or project presentation Crowdfunding Berlin crowdfunding-berlin.com/en FURTHER FUNDING OPTIONS In addition to public funding options, there are other funding programmes available to help company founders and exis- ting businesses. To name just one example, grants may be requested for providing advisory services, opening up new markets, or recruiting employees under certain conditions. Grants As they do not have to be paid back, grants are the most popu- lar form of funding; however, they are only awarded in special circumstances. Technology-based entrepreneurs, for example, are eligible to receive a combination of grants and loans th- rough the Pro FIT programme (offered by the IBB) for inno- vative projects. As external experts act as intermediaries, the application process is quite complex, so you should remember to plan in enough time to accommodate this. Students and university graduates can apply to their universities for grants from the EXIST funding programme for technology-oriented and knowledge-based business start-ups, or else apply for the Berlin Start-up Scholarship (Berliner Startup Stipendium). Innovative young companies with a creative, sustainable or digital business model can apply for the „Gründungsbonus“. EU funding There are also funding programmes available at EU level that can be requested directly, although the application process for these is notoriously complex. Information and support is provided by the Enterprise Europe Network Berlin-Branden- burg (EEN). Berlin Startup Stipendium (grant)  startup-incubator.berlin/ stipendium Gründungsbonus  ibb-business-team.de/ gruendungsbonus Berlin Startup Stipendium (grant) berlin.de keyword: Zuschusspro- gramme EU funding  eu-service-bb.de/en/ Select: „About us“ CHAPTER 6 Pro FIT  ibb.de Select: „English“ Keyword: „profit“ About EXIST  exist.de/en