Promotion of start-ups

When planning a business start-up, succession or takeover, comprehensive information and professional help are crucial. There are numerous offers for this in Hessen.

The business start-up portal of the Ministry of Economic Affairs provides a detailed overview of start-up support in the state.

- Information and advice is provided by the economic development agencies, the chambers of industry and commerce and the chambers of skilled trades.
- The employment agencies are the first point of contact for information on setting up a business from the threat of unemployment or from unemployment.
- The Institut für Freie Berufe (IFB), Nuremberg, which operates nationwide, is available to provide advice on setting up a business in the liberal professions. The IFB offers freelancers comprehensive consulting services, which are funded by the state of Hesse and the European Union.
- Numerous technology, innovation and start-up centers support start-ups and young companies with commercial premises and infrastructure as well as on-site services.
- Administrative procedures such as business registration can be completed electronically via the Single Point of Contact Hesse.
- The Start Hub Hessen, part of Hessen Trade & Invest GmbH, is the central point of contact for the Hessian start-up community on behalf of the state.
- There are other advisory and support services for start-ups in Hessen - e.g. "push!", the start-up scholarship, "EXIST" for start-ups from science at various universities in Hessen and the central contact for technology and innovation funding, Technologieland Hessen

If there is a special need for advice in the context of founding a company or if existing companies are looking for advice, they can turn to RKW Hessen, which offers state-funded advice for founders, start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises in Hessen on a wide variety of issues. On request, RKW Hessen can recommend suitable experts who have the experience and expertise in your topic. RKW Hessen provides support throughout the entire process and ensures a high quality of advice.

In the skilled crafts sector, start-up and development advice is offered free of charge by the advice centers of the chambers of skilled crafts and some state associations. Funding is provided jointly by the skilled crafts organizations, the federal government and the state.
To promote the financing of business start-ups, the state offers various programs through the Wirtschafts- und Infrastrukturbank Hessen (WIBank). WIBank not only provides a team of experts for advice. In the "Gründungs- und Wachstumsfinanzierung Hessen - GuW-Hessen" (ERP) development loan program, it grants funding in the form of interest rate advantages for the whole of Hesse, which can be even higher in certain priority areas. The funding benefits of the "Hessen-Mikrodarlehen" development loan program and its variant "Hessen-MikroCrowd" also come into play for the path to self-employment. It is advisable to arrange a consultation with WIBank to find out exactly which type of funding is best suited to implementing the start-up idea or business takeover. The funding programs administered by WIBank are processed via the house bank or its cooperation partners (IHK, HWKs, regional business development institutions). Funding must be applied for before investments are made.

In principle, it can be interesting for any company to gain new shareholders with fresh capital for its own business. In practice, this is most often the case for start-ups that want to grow quickly with innovative offerings. However, established companies that want to build up a new business area or take over a competitor can also benefit from equity capital from the state of Hesse.
Beteiligungs-Managementgesellschaft Hessen mbH (BMH) is the capital management company of Hessen Kapital Fonds, Technologiefonds Hessen and other funds in which the state of Hesse has a stake. BMH invests public equity capital in young and established companies in Hesse via the fund vehicles. As a subsidiary of Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen Girozentrale (Helaba), BMH is an integral part of Hesse's economic development.

To ensure that good ideas do not fail due to financing, it makes sense for several strong partners to join forces. This is the basic principle of a guarantee. The house bank is approached by an entrepreneur, founder or company successor for a loan. The house bank is prepared to support the project, but would like to spread the risk over several shoulders.
In this case, Bürgschaftsbank Hessen GmbH (BBH) is a good point of contact. Together with the state of Hesse, the federal government and the house bank, BBH guarantees loans that are granted for entrepreneurial projects in Hesse. By sharing the risk between the four players, it is possible to support entrepreneurial projects that could not be implemented by the house bank alone. BBH's shareholders are chambers of commerce, private and public banks, insurance companies and trade associations. In addition to its main task of securing loans, Bürgschaftsbank Hessen thus has a broad economic and political network at its disposal.