2026-01-15
Why most German startup programs take no equity
If you browse equity-free programs on Haus, you will see that 307 of 310 active listings (as of August 2026) do not take shares. That is not a marketing trick. A lot of German support is paid for by the state, by universities, or by corporations that want a pilot rather than a stake. It also does not mean the program costs you nothing. You still need to read the time commitment, any fee, and whether a corporate partner can steer what you build.
What the directory is actually counting
Haus marks a program equity-free when the listing says 0% equity. That covers most accelerators and incubators we publish. The remaining three listings are the ones where the operator clearly takes paper or something close to it. Founder Institute runs a Berlin cohort and, on its Equity Collective page, describes a 2.5% warrant that activates on a priced raise. Silicon Allee (at Fraunhofer HHI) talks about paying founding-team salaries and “virtual shares”; the official page does not publish a percentage, and Haus currently shows 10%. Earlybird Vision Lab is a six-month program plus a €25,000 convertible loan. Conversion terms are not spelled out on the public page, so we do not call it equity-free.
Techstars is a useful warning about badges. The Berlin listing on Haus is still tagged equity-free, but Techstars’ published terms for future accelerator programs are $220,000 for 5% common plus an uncapped MFN SAFE. If you apply, read the current term sheet. A directory tag is a filter, not a contract.
Why 0% is so common here
A typical German package looks like Berlin Startup School’s accelerator: six months, no equity, a monthly founder stipend (the page has listed both €2,000 and €2,200), coworking in Mitte, and a requirement to be in Berlin. Grace Berlin is the same idea for a different group of founders: eight months, €2,500 gross per founder per month, funded by ESF+ and the State of Berlin, no shares, full-time, and you have to live in the city. Both exclude people who already took EXIST (Grace makes an exception for EXIST-Women) or the Berliner Startup Stipendium.
German Accelerator is even more direct: fully funded, no equity, with tracks such as Kickstart, Market Discovery, and Market Access. The product is help expanding abroad, not a seed cheque. Underneath a lot of university rooms sits EXIST, the federal science-to-startup stack. That money is non-dilutive. It is also a project with milestones, a university founding network, and reporting.
What to check besides equity
A 0% program can still take most of your year. Grace and Berlin Startup School expect full-time work in Berlin. Some media and music programs in other cities want on-site weeks. Corporate tracks want a use case that fits their procurement calendar. Before you apply, write down what you think the months will buy: a prototype, a first hire, a pilot you can leave. If you cannot name that, you are probably collecting logos.
Three questions are enough. What cash or runway actually arrives. How many hours they expect. Whether you can say no to the partner after the demo. If the official page is vague on those points, treat that as information. Then open the current cycle page, not last year’s announcement. The open applications list is a starting point; the operator’s site is the source of truth.