Watch out Newcomers: This could be your chance to kickstart your startup!
The Rheinpreneur Award offers you not only the opportunity to work on your concept and get feedback from experienced trainers, jury members, and peers, but also – 🥁🥁🥁 – 27.500€ seed capital in total plus individual coaching and support for the winners!
What is in it for you?
- you are living in NRW,
- you moved to Germany within the last 8 years, i.e. in 2017 or later,
- you have the nationality of one of the countries from the DAC List of ODA Recipients,
- you are over 18 years old,
- If you apply with a team: Only the main applicant is required to fulfill the above criteria
The first edition of the Rheinpreneur Newcomer 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 have started or are already finished the founding process – so long as you have not entered the market yet!
We only accept applications submitted via the application form.
The call for applications will be open until the end of the day on May 13, 2025.
As our program events, application selection process, and the pitch and award ceremony will be held in English, we are only accepting applications in English. However, as we are an international community, and many of us speak different first languages, we welcome your application even if you are still on your way to mastering English!
Yes, you need to upload a pitch deck to complete your application.
Please answer these questions with your pitch deck:
- Problem Statement – What problem are you solving?
- Solution Overview – How does your solution address this problem?
- Market Opportunity – Who are your potential customers? What is the market size?
- Key Features of the Product/Service – What makes it unique?
- Social or Environmental Impact – What positive change does your business bring?
- Competitive Analysis – Who are your competitors, and how do you differentiate?
- Financial Projections – What is your revenue model? How will you make money?
- Team – Tell us more about you and/or your team! Who are you? How many of your team are also newcomers to NRW Region? What are their backgrounds and skillsets, and how will you work together?
Yes, you need to upload a video to complete your application. Don't worry, we just want to get to know you better!
Please answer these questions with your 2 min video (important - max. 120 seconds long):
- Who Are You?
- Tell us about your startup in 1–2 sentences.
- Your Newcomer & Entrepreneurial Journey
- What inspired you to start your business and why are you building it?
- What are some challenges you are faced as a newcomer entrepreneur?
Requirements: max. 2 minutes long, horizontal format (preferably 16:9), mov or mp4, file name = your startup name
You can upload your video in the application form.
There are a few formal requirements for your video:
- max. 120sec
- horizontal format (preferably 16:9)
- mov or mp4
- file name = your startup name
To complete your application, please upload your video in the application form.
If you are nominated as a finalist: Some parts of your application (see application form for more information) may be published on our social media 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.
This is probably the most asked question when it comes to a competition ;)
The winners will be awarded with:
- 1st prize: 10.000€ seed capital + 2.500€ budget for coaching and consulting
- 2nd prize: 7.500€ seed capital + 2.500€ budget for coaching and consulting
- 3rd prize: 5.000€ seed capital + 2.500€ budget for coaching and consulting
- Public voting prize: 5.000€ seed capital + 2.500€ budget for coaching and consulting
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.
No worries, we've 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 YouTube.
🔹 Who will they be? Stay tuned—we’ll reveal our jury soon!
🔹 What will they do? Assess innovation, impact, and business potential to recognize the best newcomer startups in NRW. Check back for updates and meet the experts shaping the future of entrepreneurship! 🚀
Evaluating the entrepreneurs’ business ideas, analyzing potentials, and deciding which (future) businesses should win the big prize is not an easy task – but our expert jurors like a little challenge!
As a team with diverse backgrounds and expertise, they not only pre-select the six finalists to compete for the public voting prize, but also evaluate their live pitches at the final award show.
Decisions on the winners of the 3 main prizes are 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
- business responsibility
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Izabella Neves de MoraisIzabella Neves de Morais is a Project Lead with 15 years of experience. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Advertising & Publicity, a Master’s in Service Design, and a Postgraduate qualification in Social Innovation Management.
She has five years of experience in the financial sector and two years leading EU-funded programmes. With expertise in the Latin American, European, UAE, and Indian markets, she has managed high-impact global projects, large-scale startup events, and equity product development. As a teacher, speaker, and mentor, she specialises in developing scalable solutions for immigrant women and international communities with an impact-focused approach.
