Starting a company in Freiburg: The guide for startups, from first idea to growth

09.10.2026
Konrad Pfitzer Verfasst von Konrad Pfitzer He has been a partner at Grünhof since 2015 and has already helped over 300 startups get off the ground and grow.

It's 11:40 p.m. and you have 14 tabs open in your browser. Startup advice, funding, accelerators, business plans. Your idea is good, you can feel it. But after two hours of research you still don't know who to call.

A lack of options is not the issue. The platform Startinsland alone lists 33 offers for initial advice and 27 for financing in the Freiburg region. That is exactly the problem: if you don't know which door is the right one, you don't knock on any.

This has consequences. According to the KfW-Gründungsmonitor 2026, the annual survey of new business founders by Germany's state development bank, just over four in ten people who plan to start a business give up their plans each year. Those who struggle with financing give up almost twice as often.

This article gives you an overview of the three key phases of starting a business: idea, launch, and growth. By the end, you’ll know who to contact and when, what funding options you need to explore before launching, and where to meet others who are on the same journey. We’ll also share the most common mistakes and pitfalls at each stage.

In a nutshell (as of October 2026)

  • Stage 1, idea: You have an idea but no company yet. What helps now is a first consultation: at the university's startup office (Gründungsbüro), at the chambers of commerce and skilled crafts (IHK and Handwerkskammer), at the Social Innovation Lab, or at EXI Green. Most are free. You have to apply for the exist Gründungsstipendium, a federal startup grant, before you set up your company.
  • Stage 2, founding: You are setting up your company or are about to enter the market. Programs like Sozialstarter, smart green, and arise help you now. Start-up BW Pre-Seed provides up to €320,000. You can only access it through a support partner such as smart green or arise.
  • Stage 3, growth: Your offering is on the market. What helps now: pilot projects with mid-sized companies, business angels, and bigger premises.

Important at every stage: Don't stay on your own. Further down we tell you where to meet the right people.

Already set up your company? Then jump straight to stage 2 or 3.

Stage 1: The idea. The first conversation and the funding to sort out before founding

You have an idea and no company yet. So far, hardly anyone knows about it. Often there's a worry behind that: what if someone picks it apart? At this stage you show it anyway. It takes three steps.

Your call at this stage: an initial consultation. You'll find the one that fits in step 1.

Where to meet people: at the university's Startup BBQs and at the Social Innovation Night. If you're a student, also at the Foundersclub Freiburg, with workshops and contact with people who have founded companies.

Step 1: Find the right startup advice in ten minutes

Mistake 1: You knock on the wrong door. The Handwerkskammer advises founders in the skilled trades, the Gründungsbüro advises spin-offs from science, the Social Innovation Lab advises social ideas. If you end up in the wrong place, you lose time and often your momentum.

Two questions lead you to the right address:

  1. Do you come from a university? Then start at the Gründungsbüro. It advises members of the University of Freiburg. It also advises members of Hochschule Offenburg, Hochschule Furtwangen, and the Katholische Hochschule and Evangelische Hochschule in Freiburg where these have no advisory service of their own.
  2. What is your field? Skilled trades, commerce, social impact, green tech, and deep tech each have their own address.

Your situation

Your first address

What you get

Studying, doing a doctorate, or working at a university

Gründungsbüro of the University of Freiburg

Free advice: your idea's potential, business model, market, funding applications

Founding in the skilled trades

Handwerkskammer Freiburg, the Chamber of Skilled Crafts

Free one-on-one business advice over several sessions

Founding in commerce, trade, or industry

IHK Südlicher Oberrhein, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce

Free one-on-one advice, a business plan tool, consultation days on taxes and online marketing

Social idea

Social Innovation Lab

Up to eight hours of orientation consulting with the RKW. Your own contribution is €240 plus VAT. There are also monthly Open Office Hours

Green idea

EXI Green at Grünhof

Eight hours of consulting, including preparation and follow-up, free of charge

Deep tech for health, industry, or smart regions

arise at BadenCampus

In the Lab you test your idea against the concrete needs of companies and public-sector organizations

Founding as a woman or non-binary person

Futur F

Pre-founding advice from the idea to financing, also for mixed teams

Culture and the creative industries

Orientation consulting by MFG

Free: entrepreneurial orientation for people working in culture and the creative industries

No row fits

Startinsland

The region's central platform, with 33 offers for initial advice

Do it now: Mark your row. That is your call for this week.

Step 2: Go to your first consultation before your idea is finished

Mistake 2: You wait until your idea is finished. Many people only get in touch once the business plan and the logo are done. But first consultations are made for the moment before that. The university's Gründungsbüro listens to your idea and assesses its potential before you have worked anything out.

How to prepare: write down three sentences. What problem do you solve, how, and for whom? That is enough for most first consultations. For the pre-founding consulting at the Social Innovation Lab you also need a draft concept.

Example: Wickelboard. In 2022, two social workers came to the Social Innovation Lab with an idea: a permanently installed baby-changing table for playgrounds and parks. Niklas Schäfer and Holger Bauer showed their idea. Step 4 tells you what happened next.

Do it now: Put the next open date in your calendar. The Gründungsbüro offers an online consultation hour about its services, free of charge and open to people from outside the university. The next dates: October 21, November 18, and December 16, 2026, each from 1:30 to 2:00 p.m. The Social Innovation Lab usually holds its Open Office Hours on the last Thursday of the month from 1 to 3 p.m.

Step 3: Sort out funding before you set up your company

Mistake 3: You set up your company first and ask about funding afterwards. The exist Gründungsstipendium is only available if your company has not yet been founded when the funding starts. The state's EXI-Gründungsgutscheine, its consulting vouchers, also fund advice in the pre-founding phase. If you go to the notary too early, you give up both. You also apply for promotional loans from L-Bank and KfW before your project starts.

The two programs in detail:

exist Gründungsstipendium (formerly EXIST-Gründerstipendium), a federal startup grant

  • Who it's for: Students who are at least halfway through their degree, researchers, and anyone who graduated no more than five years ago. Teams of up to three people.
  • What you get: A twelve-month grant of €1,000 to €3,000 a month, depending on your degree. Plus €30,000 for materials and equipment for teams and €5,000 for coaching.
  • How to apply: Your university or research institution submits the application. At the University of Freiburg it goes through the Gründungsbüro.

EXI-Gründungsgutschein, the consulting voucher of the state of Baden-Württemberg

  • Who it's for: Anyone in Baden-Württemberg interested in founding, whether in commerce, the skilled trades, or the liberal professions.
  • What you get: To start, a compact consultation of several hours that is usually free. A subsidized in-depth consultation builds on it.
  • Where in Freiburg: EXI Green, the Social Innovation Lab, Futur F, and Steinbeis.

Do it now: In every first consultation, ask this question: “Which programs will I lose if I set up my company now?” Do you come from a university? Then also take the EGS check on exist.de. It shows you whether your team meets the formal requirements.

Ready for stage 2? Yes, if someone from outside knows your idea and you know which funding you have to apply for before founding. Then something has shifted: your idea no longer belongs to you alone.

Stage 2: Founding. A program, a place, and the right financing

Someone now knows your idea. Now it becomes a company, and you are responsible for many things at once: your offering, your first customers, money. What you need most now are two things: perseverance and structure.

Your call at this stage: the program that fits your field. For social ideas that is Sozialstarter, for green tech smart green, for deep tech arise. If none fits, the IHK and the Handwerkskammer remain your address.

Where to meet people: in your program and at the desk next to yours. Sozialstarter comes with a community, and more than 600 members from a wide range of industries work at Grünhof.

Step 4: Find a program and a place

Programs give you structure, sparring, and a network. Pick the one that fits your field:

Program

Who it's for

What it offers

Sozialstarter at the Social Innovation Lab

Individuals and teams with a social idea

A free founding program with coaching and a community. Expect at least four hours a week and in-person attendance at all modules in the Lokhalle

smart green at Grünhof

Green-tech startups in energy, construction, the circular economy, and environmental technology

Business model consulting, masterclasses on sales and venture capital, pilot customers from mid-sized companies

arise at BadenCampus

Deep-tech startups with a B2B approach

A Lab for the idea stage, an accelerator for market entry, growth coaching afterwards

The university's Gründungsbüro

Spin-offs from science

A crash course on founding a company, the Entrepreneurship lecture series, a business plan seminar

A good program asks you the critical question you were afraid of in stage 1. Example: Wickelboard. In the Sozialstarter, the two social workers from step 2 presented their idea to experts. The experts put it to the test and helped tailor it to its social impact. The question didn't end the idea. It sharpened it.

Blühsam went through the same program in 2023. Looking back, Conny Wegscheider says they would never have started the project without the Sozialstarter team.

Two competitions are worth a look. The MakeItMatter Award from smart green offers up to €15,000 for technology-based climate protection. Schwarzwälder Gründergeist runs an idea and business plan competition for members of universities.

You also need a place:

  • Coworking: More than 600 members work at Grünhof. Coworking is available at Kreativpark Lokhalle and at Augustinerplatz. Social startups work at the Social Innovation Lab free of charge.
  • Business address: At Grünhof you get a legally valid business address for the commercial register and your legal notice (Impressum) as a Virtual Office for €89 a month.
  • Outside the city: BadenCampus in Breisach rents out desks in its shared workspace.

Do it now: Ask today when the next application deadline is and put it in your calendar. The last Sozialstarter round closed on January 11, 2026.

Step 5: Finance yourself in the right order

Mistake 4: You equate financing with venture capital. Most new businesses don't need venture capital. According to KfW, 38 percent start with no more than €1,000. Among full-time founders, half get by with €15,000 or less. For sums like these there are better routes than a pitch.

Your first financing is your own money and your first revenue. Only move up a rung when the one before isn't enough. The “When” column shows which rungs you need to set in motion early.

Instrument

When

What it is

Access in Freiburg

Promotional loans

Before your project starts

Subsidized loans from L-Bank and KfW. You apply through your bank

Your own bank, for example Sparkasse or Volksbank

exist Gründungsstipendium

Before founding, see step 3

A twelve-month grant plus funds for materials and coaching

Gründungsbüro

Start-up BW Pre-Seed

Shortly before market entry

Up to €320,000, in exceptional cases up to €640,000. Between 20 and 50 percent comes from private co-investment

smart green or arise

Business angels

From stage 2

Experienced entrepreneurs who contribute capital, network, and know-how

Black Forest Business Angels

Venture capital

At stage 3

Equity capital for strong growth

smart green's GreenTech Capital Forum, the BadenCampus investment network

For technically very demanding projects with long development times there is the exist Forschungstransfer program. The Gründungsbüro advises on that too.

For Pre-Seed you need an innovative idea, a connection to Baden-Württemberg, a co-investment, and a support partner. According to smart green, founders are not personally liable and give up no shares at first. The jury meets every two months.

Example: Concular. The startup received its first financing through smart green.

Do it now: Work out what you really need in the first twelve months. Take that one number to the financing consultation at the IHK, the Handwerkskammer, or your bank. Is Pre-Seed an option for you? Then talk to smart green or arise early. You can only register for the jury once the letter of intent for the co-investment is in place. The next session runs from November 11 to 13, 2026.

Ready for stage 3? Yes, if your offering is on the market and the first customers are paying for it. Then something has shifted again: someone asked the critical question, and your idea grew from it.

Stage 3: Growth. Customers, capital, and space

Your offering is on the market. Now it's rarely the idea that's missing. What's missing is orders, money for the next step, or space.

Your call at this stage: a partner with access to customers or capital. These are smart green, arise, and the Black Forest Business Angels.

Where to meet people: at the mayor's startup breakfast, twice a year, and at smart green's GreenTech Capital Forum.

Step 6: Grow with customers, capital, and space

Freiburg has an address for all three. And one for looking across the border.

  • Customers: smart green arranges pilot projects and partnerships with mid-sized companies. By its own account, the accelerator has connected more than 800 startups with them. arise offers individual growth coaching after market entry.
  • Capital: Now it's time for the upper rungs from step 5: business angels and venture capital.
  • Space: At Grünhof you move from a coworking desk to a team office. The BioTechPark offers labs for life sciences, and the Freiburger Innovationszentrum FRIZ offers offices close to research. fwi arranges small commercial spaces for startups without commission.
  • Neighboring countries: Basel and Strasbourg are next door. The Trinational Startup Helpdesk of the city's economic development office helps with contacts across the border.

Example: Carbonfuture. The company, now a member of Grünhof, says its early-stage financing, supported by smart green, was crucial to establishing its platform in the German-speaking DACH region.

And Wickelboard? Today, Wickelboards stand in several German states, in two versions and as a mobile version on a Piaggio Ape.

Do it now: Write one page: what problem do you solve for a mid-sized company, and what would a pilot project look like in three months? Take this page into every conversation about cooperation.

This stage, too, turns with the first partner: you no longer have to open every door yourself.

At every stage: Meet people on the same path

Three stages, three kinds of conversations. One thing you need in all of them: people who are on the same path.

Step 7: Keep the conversation going

Mistake 5: You stay on your own. 86 percent of founders start solo. According to KfW, founding teams have never been so rare. Founding alone is fine. Staying alone is not. Without people who disagree with you, you notice flaws in your thinking too late. Only by talking to others do you get answers to these questions: Will my idea hold up? How does it become a company? Where will orders and money come from?
For Wickelboard it was experts, for Blühsam a program, for Carbonfuture a partner.

An idea doesn't get better when you protect it. It gets better when you show it to the right people early. That applies to a startup just as much as to a career change, a book, or a new service in your own business.

Here is your chance to meet people and get talking. These four calendars are all you need:

You can find co-founders and first employees through Startinsland's job board.

Grünhof itself grew out of this need. In 2013, its founding duo found that Freiburg lacked a place where founders and creatives come together. So a schnitzel restaurant with a beer garden on Belfortstraße became the first location.

Do it now: Put one scene event a month into your calendar, for example the Growth & Transformation Circle at Grünhof or one of the university's Startup BBQs. Also subscribe to the Startinsland newsletter. It comes out two to three times a year. Never worked in a coworking space? Workspace Wednesday is your free trial day at Grünhof, available once for newcomers.

Your next step

Back to the 14 tabs. You can close 13 of them. The one that stays open is the address that fits your stage. Call it this week. You have your three sentences from step 2. Haven't set up your company yet? Then also ask the question from step 3: “Which programs will I lose if I set up my company now?” And let them disagree with you. That's what the conversation is for.

Is your idea green or social? Then we are your address: Changemaking at Grünhof brings together smart green and the Social Innovation Lab.

Disclosure: Grünhof is itself part of this map. We run smart green and the Social Innovation Lab, are among the initiators of Startinsland, and are the workplace of more than 600 members. That is why this article also lists what others offer. We update it once a year. Is something missing? Write to us.

Frequently asked questions about the startup scene in Freiburg

Where can I get free startup advice in Freiburg?

The IHK Südlicher Oberrhein, the Handwerkskammer Freiburg, and the university's Gründungsbüro advise free of charge. At EXI Green, eight hours of consulting for green business ideas are free, including preparation and follow-up. Through the EXI-Gründungsgutschein, getting started is usually free at other advice centers as well.

Do I have to be a student or a researcher to get support?

No. Only the Gründungsbüro and the exist programs require a connection to a university. The IHK, the Handwerkskammer, the Social Innovation Lab, EXI Green, smart green, and arise are open to you without one.

What funding is available for startups in Freiburg?

The three most important are the exist Gründungsstipendium for founders from universities, Start-up BW Pre-Seed with up to €320,000, and the EXI-Gründungsgutschein for subsidized consulting. You apply for promotional loans from L-Bank and KfW through your bank before your project starts.

Which accelerators are there in Freiburg?

smart green at Grünhof supports green-tech startups. arise at BadenCampus supports deep-tech startups, with locations in Breisach and at the Freiburger Innovationszentrum. For social ventures there is the Sozialstarter at the Social Innovation Lab.

Where do startups work in Freiburg?

At Grünhof, with coworking at Kreativpark Lokhalle and at Augustinerplatz, at the BioTechPark for life sciences, at the Freiburger Innovationszentrum FRIZ, and at BadenCampus in Breisach.

Where can I find co-founders in Freiburg?

Through Startinsland's job board, at the Foundersclub Freiburg if you're a student, and at events such as the Startup BBQ or the Social Innovation Night.

How strong is Freiburg as a place to start a company?

In the German Startup Association's per-capita ranking, Freiburg was 10th among cities in 2025. In the twelve months to June 2026 it was 14th. Nationwide, 3,053 startups were founded in the first half of 2026, more than in any half-year since counting began in 2019. This is shown by the association's Next Generation Report.

Freiburg does not lack substance:

  • Research: Since 1995, 258 companies have been founded from the university's environment, according to the city's economic development office.
  • Green economy: Almost twice as many startups here as the national average assign themselves to this field.
  • Accelerators: Two of the eight Start-up BW accelerators are based in the region: smart green at Grünhof and arise at BadenCampus.
  • Network: Ten initiators jointly back the Startinsland founding initiative, from the university and the chambers to Sparkasse and Volksbank.

Sources

We checked all information against the linked pages on October 9, 2026. Most of the linked pages are in German.