Funding program of HM and SCE for prospective founders
Do you have an innovative project? Apply now and become part of the Start-up League!
The Start-up Certificate "Founding your own start-up" of the Munich University of Applied Sciences (HM) and the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (SCE) is your ticket to the Start-up League and is a 24-week accelerator program for the realization of your own start-up idea including an official certificate in the field of start-up. It combines start-up support and founder training. We support projects in the pre-start-up phase or early start-up phase of all industries with consulting, budget, jobs, workshops, events as well as networking on their way as successful founders.
Students and graduates of all universities as well as employees or prospective founders with no university degree can apply. Those who are looking for competent support and the necessary funding within an entrepreneurship ecosystem for the implementation of an innovative and scalable start-up idea can fully use the start-up offer of the HM and the SCE to get started with their own start-up and receive university status with enrollment (for the first time or again). The Start-up Certificate aims at minimizing the start-up risk so that more technology-based start-ups are generated with the passage.
All services within the program are offered free of charge. Admission requirements include a high school diploma and completion of a multi-stage selection process.
The program is sponsored by the Zeidler Research Foundation.
Services
What does the support program offer?
With the start of the program, the selected founders and their projects are part of the Start-up League of HM and SCE. The start-up projects are provided with a structured and high-quality offer to increase the probability of success in establishing the start-up.
Support & promotion of founders:
- Competent and individual consulting as well as coaching by experienced start-up consultants.
- Exclusive workshops, networking events and start-up events such as investor days
- Workplace in the incubator (24 weeks and possible extension option)
- Material budget for the construction of a first prototype (one-time 2.000€)
- Eligible to apply for KickStart@HM funding from the BMBF (max. 7,500€ material budget and 3 months incubator extension)
- Joint application for public funding (including EXIST, FLÜGGE)
- Network and community (exchange with successful founders, entrepreneurs, investors and experts)
- Resources and infrastructure of HM Student status through enrollment
- Certificate completion in two semesters
That way, the prospective founders receive support that is of great added value for their further career path - whether as founders or in other positions - but also grow into their role as successful founders with HM & SCE as sparring partners.
Come to the Strascheg Center of the University of Applied Sciences Munich to found your own company. We are looking forward to walking this exciting path with you!
Requirements
Who can apply?
Do you have an innovative and scalable start-up idea? At best still in the pre-founding or early founding phase? HM and SCE are to be your home base and you would like to advance your project with us? In addition, do you have a university entrance qualification such as a diploma, bachelor's degree, master's degree, high school diploma, vocational baccalaureate, master craftsman's diploma or similar? Then submit your idea now and become part of our start-up community! Apply together as a team or as an individual founder with your own start-up project.
The support program is open to prospective founders from all areas and industries: Product or service, software or hardware, social impact or commercially driven, high-tech or low-tech. In addition, it does not matter whether those are studying or starting up while working. Participation in the program can be very easily combined with a degree or a job. International teams are just as welcome. Decisive for us is the idea (degree of novelty, scalability, potential), the founders as well as the motivation and personal commitment to develop the idea further!
Application
When and how do you apply?
You can apply for the program at any time in German or English via the online application form. All information and documents submitted will be treated confidentially and will not be passed on to third parties!
The program starts twice a year (March and September). In the meantime, we are happy to support your project in the start-up consultancy, which is open to all interested founders. Just submit your application via the online form so we can get in touch. For start-up projects with a connection to HM (e.g. students, alumni, employees at HM), there are also other support formats and, as a special feature, the possibility of an accelerated program start. To do so, indicate the relevant HM reference in the online application form.
The selection process for admission to the funding program is designed as a multi-stage procedure: 1st stage online application to the SCE and 2nd stage admission presentation of selected start-up projects to a jury. The selection is made in the first stage based on the submitted documents via the online application form. This includes: presentation (read deck) or an idea paper explaining the innovative business concept. The contents and a suggested outline can be taken from the templates in the download area. Twice a year, in the second stage, a recording presentation with subsequent discussion takes place for selected projects (in person or virtually as a video call). In case of acceptance, we immediately include the founders in our start-up process and get started with them!
In the following the selection process in detail:
(1) First of all, find information here on the website, familiarize yourself with the process and the required application documents (templates for presentation / read deck and idea paper) and prepare them for the online application. Feel free to send an informal expression of interest regarding the planned application to Saskia Schmidl by e-mail.
(2) The online application for the program with the submission of the documents is done via the online application form here on the website (see above, right). The application form should be completed by all team members involved in the start-up project. Teams must first designate a team representative as the primary contact person. This representative provides additional information about the start-up project and is responsible for file uploads (presentation/idea paper, resumes and credentials), while the other team members are only required to answer personal data. Individual founders complete the form as the team representative. Note the respective deadlines for submitting the online application for consideration in the 2nd stage (admission presentations). If you are still undecided whether your project is suitable for the program (thematic focus or phase of the business idea): An application is always worthwhile, since among other things the founders already receive valuable feedback, coaching and network access. Promising projects have the chance to be included in the start-up consultation and to be supported in order to further advance their business development. You are allowed to resubmit your proposal and you can then reapply with a revised proposal for a later selection round. Please also feel free to take advantage of the opportunity for an initial consultation at the start-up consultancy.
Contents of the application:
- Meaningful presentation (read deck) or idea paper: 12 slides or 10 pages (details and requirements to be taken from the respective template in the download area)
- CVs of all team members
- Final certificates of all team members (certificate of the highest academic degree such as diploma, bachelor's degree, master's degree, high school diploma, specialized baccalaureate, master craftsman's examination or similar).
(3) Admission presentations are held twice a year (usually January / February and July / August).
After receipt of the documents via the online application form, we will give you prompt feedback regarding a possible invitation for a personal presentation and the contents of the admission presentation (acceptance to the 2nd stage, presentation date and template will follow by e-mail):
- You will receive an individual time slot for your presentation, in which you will have the opportunity to present the project to our experts and the start-up support team (15 minutes) and to answer questions (10-15 minutes).
- A template with the requirements for the admission presentation and further information will be provided to the invited founders.
(4) The decision on admission to the program will be made after all presentations by the founders. The applicants will be informed about the result and, if they are interested, they will also receive feedback if they are interested. A new application is also possible in order to continue working on the project and to use the opportunity again at a later point in time. The accepted founders will receive the SCE/HM Gründungsförderung certificate at the same time as the program confirmation, which is required for the formal online application and enrollment at HM.
Enrollment at HM
Finally, each team member now applies to HM and completes enrollment (HM students already enrolled also apply and are dually enrolled):
- Registration and document upload on the university's own online application portal.
- Required documents: University entrance qualification (i.e., diploma/certificate of highest academic degree), curriculum vitae, and SCE/HM certificate.
- In the further course after the acceptance by HM, it is important that you accept the study place, declare the provisional enrollment, upload further documents and transfer the semester fee (Note: If you study at a Munich university, you only have to pay this once).
We are happy to assist with enrollment in case of challenges.
Program contents
The start of the program is initiated with the acceptance into the funding program and thus into the Start-up League. A joint kick-off event is held with the accepted founders to get to know each other and exchange ideas. Right at the beginning, the SCE/HM start-up advisor is assigned for regular and individual consulting appointments as well as intensive coaching (approx. every 2 weeks).
Structured as an intensive 24-week accelerator program with official certificate completion after two semesters, the teaching of start-up-relevant learning content including important procedures and tools as well as necessary core competencies takes place in two modules (5 ECTS each). Depending on the phase and the stage of development of the start-up project, the first module focuses on the evaluation of the business idea and the second module on the realization of the business idea. For this purpose, exclusive workshops with experts on special topics such as team development, real-time innovation, start-up funding, financial planning for founders, professional pitching as well as networking events with other prospective founders, successful start-ups, established companies, investors and experts are offered. In addition, the prospective founders are advised, among other things, on assessing the innovative potential of their ideas and projects, analyzing possible areas of application, developing a marketable product and a suitable marketing concept, as well as applying for public funding (e.g. EXIST, FLÜGGE) and acquiring financing opportunities (approaching investors, crowdfunding). They also receive support in the area of press relations as well as team building. The goal is to give them concrete help and the necessary push both in assessing the spin-off potential and on the way to market entry through valuable experience and contacts, so that they can take off! The program was designed explicitly for founders, so that the main part of the time is spent on their own founding activities in the start-up, while in addition to the consulting appointments, about 2 dates per month for workshops/networking events are to be planned. The founders will be informed about the dates at the beginning of the program and kept up to date. For the two semesters, founders will be enrolled at HM and will eventually receive the certificate degree by passing two presentations. The interim presentation takes place in the first semester and in the second semester still the final presentation as well as a joint final event with pitches, demos and the founders.
The incubation period (24 weeks) with workplaces in the Start-up Incubator (Lothstr. 21) starts either on April 01 or October 01, depending on the start of the program. In exceptional cases there is the option of an incubator extension.
With the Start-up Certificate, the founders are offered intensive consulting, workplaces and infrastructure, as well as a material budget and access to the expert network.
Costs
The program itself is free of charge. The certificate students only have to pay the usual fees for the student union and the solidarity fee per semester. If they are already studying at a Munich university, these do not have to be paid twice. The current amounts can be found here.
Furthermore, the SCE does not receive any shares in the project (which is in the process of being established) in compensation.
