Award for companies that make an impact: KfW Award rewards innovative founders

• 16 state winners and one national winner awarded
• Federal victory goes to ‘farming revolution’ from Baden-Wuerttemberg
• Special prize for ‘wunderfish’ from Berlin
• KfW Capital Awards presented in the categories Best Female and Best Impact Investor as well as Best Emerging Manager

Frankfurt am Main, 8 November 2024. The KfW Entrepreneurs’ Award recognises innovative companies from all over Germany each year. The awards were presented at a formal awards ceremony yesterday evening in Berlin. Companies founded in or after 2019 from all sectors took part in the competition.

Stefan Wintels, Chief Executive Officer of KfW:

“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."

One company from each federal state was named the state winner and received prize money of EUR 1,000.

At the same time, the 16 state winners competed to become the national winner of the competition. This went to ‘farming revolution’ from Baden-Wuerttemberg. The company develops and sells a hoeing robot that enables farmers to save up to 100% on herbicides thanks to state-of-the-art AI. ‘farming revolution’ will receive a prize of EUR 10,000.

A special prize was also awarded to ‘wunderfish’ from Berlin. The company develops authentic fish alternatives and algae ingredients for the food industry based on European organic seaweed and plant proteins from field beans and peas. ‘wunderfish’ will receive a prize of EUR 5,000.

The KfW Capital Awards were also presented at the event: Juliane Hahn (Signature Venture) won in the Best Female Investor category, Xavier Sarras (4P Capital) in the Best Impact Investor category and Nucleus Capital, with its founding partners Dr Isabella Fandrych and Maximilian Schwarz, received the Best Emerging Manager award, which was presented for the first time. All prizes are endowed with EUR 5,000 each.

An overview of the KfW Entrepreneurs' Award state winners:

Baden-Wuerttemberg: farming revolution GmbH (autonomous agricultural robots for chemical-free weed control using AI)

Bavaria: WeSort.AI GmbH (granular analysis and sorting of solid waste using AI)

Berlin: Quantune Technologies GmbH (non-invasive biomarker monitoring that can be worn on the wrist)

Brandenburg: pyropower GmbH (innovative energy technology for decarbonisation)

Bremen: ito ito GmbH (software for automated fashion production)

Hamburg: BLUU GmbH (cell-based fish)

Hessen: MentalStark GmbH (companion apps for women’s health)

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Bio24 Social gUG (cooking and baking to combat loneliness)

Lower Saxony: Datenschmiede.ai GmbH (automated data maintenance by AI)

North Rhine-Westphalia: Retraced GmbH (compliance/sustainability management for the fashion industry)

Rhineland-Palatinate: Doderm GmbH (skin care with immune factors from milk)

Saarland: SurFunction GmbH (sustainable surfaces)

Saxony: SaxonQ GmbH (mobile quantum computer)

Saxony-Anhalt: SOLAR MATERIALS GmbH (recycling of solar modules)

Schleswig-Holstein: Smart Letter of Credit GmbH (real-time follow-up and payments for international trade)

Thuringia: revincus GmbH (heat exchanger for wastewater for residential buildings and industry)

All state winners also qualify for the people’s choice award, which is endowed with a further EUR 5,000 in prize money. Up to and including Friday, 29 November 2024, people can vote for the people’s choice award winner at www.fuer-gruender.de/kfw-award-gruenden-publikumspreis (in German).

The companies were selected in a multi-stage process by an experienced jury made up of representatives from KfW, promotional institutions, business, politics and the media. They assessed the business ideas on their level of innovation, their creativity, and their social and environmental responsibility.

All companies are supported by a PR agency in the marketing of their success story. In addition, German TV channel n-tv will provide coverage of selected award winners as part of its “Startup Magazin” broadcast on Saturday, 9 November 2024 at 10.30 am.

For more information about the 2024 award winners, see KfW Entrepreneurs’ Award | KfW (in German). Photos are available for download at KfW Entrepreneurs’ Award 2024 – PEPERONI (in German).