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THE BERLIN NEWCOMER STARTUP AWARD 

FIVE YEARS CELEBRATING NEWCOMER ENTREPRENEURSHIP!

THE AWARD

Watch out Newcomers: This could be your chance to kickstart your startup!

Do you have an exciting business idea? Or just entered the journey of creating your own startup? Did you come to Germany within the last 8 years? Are now living, working and having ideas in Berlin? Then this seems to be your competition

Berlin Newcomer Startup Award offers you not only cool opportunities to work on your concept with and get feedback from others, meet new people and expand your network but also – DRUMROLL – 27.500€ seed capital in total plus individual coaching and support for the lucky winners!

The Berlin Newcomer StartUp Award 2023 is now open! Send your application by October 11!

berlin-newcomer-startup-award-review

What is in it for you?

It’s not all about the prize money. Berlin Newcomer Startup Awards have even more to offer

  • great opportunities to network – online and offline.
  • valuable feedback on your ideas and plans from experienced entrepreneurs and experts.
  • visibility and the chance to present your (future) business to a larger audience if you get nominated as a finalist.

And this is how easy it is!

Everything you need to know.

Still not convinced that we’re looking for you? Check out the answers to our FAQs below and download the conditions for participation for even more information.

You are eligible to apply for the Berlin Newcomer Startup Award if 

  • you are living in Berlin,
  • you moved to Germany within the last 8 years, i.e. in 2015 or later,
  • you have the nationality of one of the countries from the DAC List of ODA Recipients,
  • and you are over 18 years old.

If you apply with a team: Your team members do not all have to match the criteria as well.

Good ones of course 🙂 There’s no limitation to a specific sector or industry.
The 2023 edition of the Berlin Newcomer Startup Award is addressing Kickstarters only.

Meaning: We are searching for (future) entrepreneurs who are still in the ideation phase or currently working on their business plan and building networks as well as Newcomers who started or already finished the founding process – as long as they did not enter the market yet!

No. The 2023 edition of the Berlin Newcomer Startup Award is addressing Kickstarters only. Therefore your startup’s market entry is an exclusion criterion.

We’re offering a series of free online events to support you with ideation and other topics.

Check out our program here and join us to co-create exchange and network!

We only accept applications submitted via the application form on this website.

The call for applications will be open until the end of the day on October 11, 2023. 

Sure! You can apply as an individual or with a team of co-founders / co-creators. Just keep in mind: The person submitting your application needs to be eligible to participate and will be the one presenting your team at the final pitches if you get chosen.

No. The program language for the whole contest is English – from online events and applications to your pitches and the award ceremony.

But don’t worry no one is here to judge your language skills. 

Yes, you do need to upload a video to complete your application. But a nice video doesn’t necessarily need a lot of money or fancy equipment. We’re just interested to get to know you and your business concept a little better so:

  • Tell us your story, what motivates you or why the world needs your idea.
  • Explain what it is all about and what makes your product or service special.
  • Describe where you stand and what you’re planning for the future.
  • Share with us what you think we need to know about your business / business idea.
  • Or show us your idea in action!

How to do so? Be creative and use what you’ve got! There’s a lot of cool people sharing their knowledge on how to make a convincing pitch video online.

You can also check our online events for support on how to convince your audience.

There are a few formal requirements for your video:

  • max. 90sec 
  • horizontal format (preferably 16:9)
  • mov or mp4 
  • file name = your name 

To complete your application, please send your video via wetransfer to sbl@singa-deutschland.de

If you get nominated as a finalist: Some party of your application (–> see application form for more information) may be published on our social media appearances or website for the public voting and / or in preparation for the award ceremony. 

For all other applicants: We will only share your answers with the jury for evaluation and will not publish anything without your permission. 

Our jury will nominate 6 finalists out of all eligible applications. After +/- a week we will announce the finalists publicly – stay tuned for more information – but will also inform you via your given email address.

You don’t have to apply for the public voting separately. The six finalists who convinced the jury of their business ideas will automatically go into public voting and will also pitch their ideas at the award show 2 weeks later.

Information about our jury and the criteria they evaluate can be found here.

The probably most asked question when it comes to a competition 🙂

Besides great opportunities to co-create, exchange and build networks, our finalists will benefit from valuable feedback to their business ideas from our jury as well as more visibility and public awareness.

The winners will be awarded with:

  • 1st prize: 10.000€ seed capital + 2.500€ budget for coaching and consulting
  • 2nd price: 7.500€ seed capital + 2.500€ budget for coaching and consulting
  • 3rd prize: 5.000€ seed capital + 2.500€ budget for coaching and consulting
  • winner public voting: 5.000€ seed capital + 2.500€ budget for coaching and consulting

No worries, we got you covered! All finalists will be supported with preparing their big entrance at the online award show.

You’re interested in learning more about how to present your idea in preparation for your application? Check out our online events. 

THE PUBLIC VOTING

 Who should win the Berlin Newcomer Startup Award? We’re interested to find out which business idea is the most convincing to you as a potential future client, supporter, business partner, or investor. That’s why we invite you to be a part of our “extended jury!

Our jury preselects 6 awesome finalists! You support your favorite by giving them your vote, sharing the link to their profile with your network – and in the end making them the lucky winner of the extra prize of 5.000€ + 2.500€ budget for coaching / consulting. 

THE PUBLIC VOTING 2022

From the announcement of the 6 finalists until the day of the award show event, November 3rd, 2022 at 8:00PM, we collected – DRUMROLL – 4416 votes from our extended jury! 

The 2022 voting results were as follows: 

1.) place with 2428 votes: Thoughtful & innovative 3D printer by Cindy Valdez, Elena F. etsch & Nick Perillo

2.) place with 683 votes: Aman Collective by Mudar Obaid Dabbous & Layla Mzher 

3.) place with 541 votes: Cooki by Alper Peker & Mehmet Ercan

4.) place with 395 votes: Flower Matter by Chanawan Kao Danpan & Irene Purasachit

5.) place with 52 votes: Pillio by Mohamed Ali Khan & Goerge kyriakopoulos

6.) place with 05 votes: Hoopooh by Ahmed Jemaa & Amir Algeb

Mudar Obaid Dabbous & Layla Mzher

Aman Collective

What will your new startup’s offers be?

Aman Collective is an innovative online platform that carefully addresses the psychological, linguistic, and cultural needs of the Arabic-speaking community in exile. Through affordable, easily accessible, and inclusive virtual therapy, Arabic-speaking refugees and immigrants can receive adequate mental health support. While virtual therapy in itself is not new to the world, our innovation is that we operate and work completely online, and benefit therapists based in the MENA region.

Who will be your customers?

The mental health of conflict survivors and immigrants is greatly overlooked, regardless of how advanced the healthcare system is; there seem to be structural, cultural, and linguistic barriers. Our main target group is Arabic-speaking refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants in exile. Only in Europe, there are more than 6 million native Arabic speakers. Virtual mental health services for Arabic-speaking communities are almost non-existent, and those existing are not affordable for most people.

…read more!

Alper Peker & Mehmet Ercan

Cooki

What will your new startup’s offers be?

Cooki is a Co-Cooking Space for enthusiastic amateur cooks and established chefs. It helps them to start earning money from the first day on with their cooking skills, doing what they love and are passionate about. It is a WaaS (Workplace-as-a-Service), which means that it provides cooks with everything they need to get started, including a kitchen, utensils, and a selling stand in the storefront on a busy street with potential customers that will turn into friends&family. 

Who will be your customers?

Cooki’s target group is on one hand amateur cooks who already have the „Rote Karte“ and have started selling from home via online platforms but lack the capital to take the next step, and on the other hand also established chefs, who are skillful, somehow are stuck in a burger store or a boring restaurant due to economic issues, yet are still passionate to follow their dreams on the days off, if only there was a cheaper and faster solution on the market.

…read more!

Chanawan Kao Danpan & Irene Purasachit

Flower Matter

What will your new startup’s offers be?

More than 40% of commercially grown flowers are thrown away with plastic packaging before they reach consumers‘ hands. We enable a circularity to this waste stream by transforming flower waste into innovative textile leather-like material – ‚Flaux‘. It contains flower petals as the main ingredient and its colour agent. Hence, no artificial colourant, no oil-based ingredient or additive is needed. The flower material is all-natural, compostable, recyclable and micro-plastic-free.

Who will be your customers?

Our target group are brands in several industries which actively search for next-gen material. Flaux can be categorised as a ‚bio-leather‘ or ‚leather-like material‘, which has the potential of better consumer alternatives in textile usage than animal-derived or petroleum-based leather, which contributes to climate change. Moreover, the compound annual growth rate is 80 % of the next-gen material global wholesale market between 2021 -2026, showing significant consumer demands. 

…read more

Ahmed Jemaa & Amir Algeb

Hoopooh

What will your new startup’s offers be?

Most kindergartens in Germany are still using old-fashioned communication ways like blackboards, e-mails or printed notes. Our platform hoopooh is digital and facilitates communication between parents and the kindergarten. All important information can now be shared and viewed in one place: sick reports, activities, excursions and current information from the childcare center . In this way, parents, childcare teachers and the management are always aware of the latest information.

Who will be your customers?

Kindergarten headmasters to manage their business, staff and parents

Teachers to efficiently communicate with parents

Parents to stay informed about the recent updates and the development of their children

…read more

Mohamed Ali Khan & George Kyriakopoulos

Pillio

What will your new startup’s offers be?

Pillio simplifies the post-prescription journey for patients taking daily medications. 

Current offering: fulfilling prescription and delivering pill-packs to users at no extra cost

Target: A consolidated history, and automated integrations with physicians

Who will be your customers?

Overarching group are people that take daily medications. It’s a constant hassle for these people to sort their medication, remember to take them, and refill prescriptions on time

Specifically, there are 2 groups: 60+ people that are part of associations and guardians. There we collaborate with their helpers to ensure the users get the best experience

35y+ people: more tech savvy, these are the first adopters and can be reached through digital marketing

…read more

Cindy Valdez, Elena Fuetsch & Nick Perillo 

Thoughtful and innovative 3D printer

What will your new startup’s offers be?

The earth’s biodiversity is being lost at an alarming rate. Along with each species lost are the unique shapes and forms that most consumers will never see. 3D printing is able to create organic shapes that would be nearly impossible to make – and certainly not commercialisable at scale – using traditional manufacturing techniques. MoM believes that adopting nature as a central thesis of design and producing biodiversity inspired ceramics is the ideal medium to communicate nature.

Who will be your customers?

Young professionals. A new generation who is looking for more sustainable household products inspired by nature.We would like to encourage these new generations to protect them and bring knowledge about it. Also Restaurants who need individualised tableware.

…read more

MEET THE 2022 JURY

Evaluating the entrepreneurs’ business ideas, analyzing potentials, and deciding which one of all the great (future) businesses should win the big prize? Was not an easy task to accomplish – but our expert jurors like a little challenge!

As a team of diverse backgrounds and expertise, they not only pre-selected the six finalists to compete for the public voting prize but also evaluated their live pitches at the final award show.

Decisions on the winners of the 3 main prizes were based on the following criteria:

  • degree of innovation of product or service solution
  • clear understanding of and attractiveness for a target group
  • competition in the market
  • feasibility
  • business model
  • entrepreneur / team and network
  • entrepreneurial responsibility

Lina Eddisi

Norbert Herrmann

Mihri Minaz & Jana Schellong

Ahmad Sufian

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Norbert Herrmann

Lina Eddisi

Ahmed Sufian

THE EVENTS

Whether you are just starting your entrepreneurial journey or you are already part of the Berlin startup scene and interested to meet new people and expand your network.

If you are interested in learning about newcomer entrepreneurs participating and their ideas, the Berlin Newcomer Startup Award organizes a variety of events covering these topics and interests from supporting the application process to expert days and networking events. All events are free of charge and open to everyone interested. Follow us on our Eventbrite page to know more about the upcoming events.

 

You don’t want to miss any updates? Sign up for the businesslab newsletter !

 

 

// several dates //

Q&A SESSIONS

01.10.22 ///10.00-18.00

ASK AN EXPERT

19.10.22 ///18.30-20:30

NETWORKING EVENT

3.11.22 /// 18:00-21:00

PITCHES & AWARD SHOW

Webinars & Impulses

You only have a vague idea and need some guidance and tools on how to bring your concept to the next level? You want to deep dive into a certain aspect of your (future) business? You want to submit your business idea but don’t know yet how to get your story through? Or you’re just not sure how to answer the application form? Don’t worry, we got you covered!

To get support with the application or inspiration and impulses on how to further develop your concept, join us for our open Q&A-sessions or webinars on more specific topics.

All events are free of charge and open to everyone interested in participating in the Berlin Newcomer Startup Award!

Interested? Check it out and sign up now:

< Several dates />

Q&A-Session: Your Application

<22.10.21/18.00-19.30>

Webinar: Get to Know Your Customer

<25.10.21/18.00-19.30>

Webinar: Define Your Product Value

<28.10.21/18.00-19.30>

Webinar: Pitch Your Idea

MEET THE WINNERS

Did you know, we celebrated Newcomer Entrepreneurs, their great startups, and very promising business ideas for the fourth time this year?!

Since 2018, twenty talented Newcomer entrepreneurs and their teams have been awarded for their startup ideas, with the Berlin Newcomer Startup Award – and amongst other cool prizes with total prize money of over 100.000€.

< 1st Prize Kickstarter Category 2022 />

PILLIO

< 1st Prize Kickstarter Category 2021 />

MOTORSKINS

< Winner Kickstarter Category 2019 />

Co-Tasker

< Winner Kickstarter Category 2019 />

Dr. Kalla Co

< 1st Price Startup Category 2018 />

Reviving Home

< Winner Kickstarter Category 2018 />

motorskins

< 2nd Prize Kickstarter Category 2022 />

THOUGHTFUL AND INNOVATIVE 3D PRINTER

< 2nd Prize Kickstarter Category 2021 />

BEAMS

< Winner Kickstarter Category 2019 />

Hachiko

< 1st Price Startup Category 2019 />

Beelinguapp

< 2nd Price Startup Category 2018 />

Niuversity

< Winner Kickstarter Category 2018 />

Aram Kraft

< 3rd Prize Kickstarter Category 2022 />

AMAN COLLECTIVE

< 3rd Prize Kickstarter Category 2021 />

JASMINE ONLINE SHOP

< Winner Kickstarter Category 2019 />

Era Zero Waste

< 2nd Price Startup Category 2019 />

Carbon Mobile GmbH

< 3rd Price Startup Category 2018 />

Bote

< Winner Kickstarter Category 2018 />

Roots and Radicals

< Audience Prize Kickstarter Category 2022 />

THOUGHTFUL AND INNOVATIVE 3D PRINTER

< Audience Prize Kickstarter Category 2021 />

PORTABLE WIND TURBINE

< Winner Kickstarter Category 2019 />

Aalaa Vegan Tales

< 3rd Price Startup Category 2019 />

MyHelpBuddy

< Winner Kickstarter Category 2018 />

DishCourt

< Winner Kickstarter Category 2018 />

Big Berlin Food Coop

INITIATED BY

SINGA Berlin

SINGA Berlin was founded in 2016. We are devoted to creating meaningful connections between locals and newcomers. Our portfolio includes programs with focus on entrepreneurship and the working field like Business Lab by SINGA, Inclusive Entrepreneurship, Kompetenzwerkstatt, Perspektive neuStart where SINGA Business Lab is one of the initiators. We are also proud of our successfully completed project Integration neu denken. Building up on the experiences, approaches, methods and networks from it, we created a new, international project: Shaping Inclusive Societies. Our activities are taking place in Berlin and the surrounding area. At the same time we support organizations and initiatives all over Germany in implementing innovative projects that lead towards an inclusive society.

www.singa-deutschland.de

 

businesslab by SINGA Berlin

businesslab by SINGA Berlin is an inclusive pre-incubator that was co-created with newcomer entrepreneurs to identify their key challenges and design a program that would best enable their success.
businesslab by SINGA Berlin has several program modules, each tailored to the specific needs of entrepreneurs at different stages of their business development with additional support of professional mentoring.

www.singabusinesslab.de

 

FUNDED BY

City of Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises

The state office for development cooperation – as part of the Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises – coordinates Berlin´s development cooperation activities. We support NGOs, universities and other stakeholders in achieving the sustainable development goals, supporting human rights and working for global justice.

“We support the Berlin Newcomer Startup Award because we believe in the power of people from all over the world in finding innovative solutions for a better world!”

www.berlin.de/sen/web/

Initiated by: 

Funded by:

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