2026-02-05
Open vs rolling programs in Germany
Open means a live application window, usually with a date that closes the cycle. Rolling means they will read a file when it arrives. Haus puts both in the open applications list, where the filter is Status: Open or Rolling. Use that page as a weekly inbox rather than a count of programs you should join. Status changes, and the official cycle page is the source of truth.
What the Haus filter actually includes
The open hub is not a ranking and not a promise that a program is a good fit. It is a status join: listings whose current cycle is marked Open or Rolling. A grant with a 17 June cutoff and a corporate platform that “always searches” can sit on the same page. That mix is the point of the filter. You want the ones that will still take a PDF this month.
Do not treat last quarter’s screenshot as diligence. Open the hub, open the card, then open the official apply URL. If those three disagree, the official URL wins. A listing that still says open on Haus can already be closed on the operator site. The reverse also happens, which is why the weekly check is worth doing.
Programs with a published kill date
Music WorX publishes the dates in full: apply 4 May to 17 June 2026, a jury picks five teams, the incubator runs September to December, and there are three mandatory Hamburg blocks. Miss June and you wait a year. nextMedia’s Media Lift has the same shape for content and tech: 2026 applications run 16 February to 12 April, Selection Day is 24 April, and the program runs 26 May to 26 November. Five teams are taken. Miss April and you wait for the next year.
Founder Institute Germany lists an early deadline of 15 September 2026 for a 27 October start. Grace Berlin opens applications on 24 August 2026 for a November batch, with Selection Day on 5 October. Grace also says applications are “reviewed on a rolling basis” inside that window, and interview slots can run out before the printed close. A deadline plus rolling review is still a deadline. Apply in the first week of the window if you want a fair shot at a slot.
Rolling intake and unpublished calendars
German Accelerator does not print a cohort calendar on its homepage. It prints an eligibility form: you fill it in, they assess, and they get back to you. That is rolling in the operational sense. It is not a promise that every week is equal. Corporate capacity still bunches, so a quiet month can sit next to a crowded one.
STARTUP AUTOBAHN says it is “always on the search,” runs two programs a year, invites relevant teams to Deep Dives, then has partners vote you in. That is continuous scouting with discrete batches. EXIST is the other German case that gets called rolling: there is no single national apply-now button. You start at a Hochschul-Gründungsnetzwerk, then the program line (Gründungsstipendium, Forschungstransfer, EXIST-Women) has its own Unterlagen. Berlin Startup School’s accelerator currently shows every milestone as “tba,” which is a batch that has not published dates rather than a rolling door.