KfW Entrepreneurs’ Award 2026: Recognition for innovative companies from all over Germany

• 16 state winners and one national winner awarded
• National prize awarded to medicalvalues GmbH from Baden-Württemberg
• Special prizes for PFS Anlagenbau UG from Saxony-Anhalt and CJBW Schiffsmakler GmbH & Co. KG from Schleswig-Holstein
• KfW Capital Award recognises four categories of achievement on the investor side

For the 29th time, KfW has honoured innovative start-ups from across Germany with the KfW Entrepreneurs' Award. This year's winners were announced at the awards ceremony in Berlin yesterday evening. A total of 581 companies from all industries had put themselves forward - more than ever in the history of the competition.

One company from each federal state was named the state winner and received prize money of EUR 1,000.

The KfW Entrepreneurs' Award highlights what makes Germany strong: a diverse start-up landscape, supported by people who recognise opportunities, take responsibility and open up new paths with their ideas. Congratulations to this year's award-winning founding teams. They stand for innovation, courage and the will to actively help shape Germany as an economic centre. As a bank committed to responsibility, KfW will continue to stand by these entrepreneurs in the future with its promotional programmes, said Stefan Wintels, Chief Executive Officer of KfW.

At the same time, the 16 state winners competed to become the national winner of the award. That winner was medicalvalues GmbH from Baden-Württemberg, which secured an additional prize of EUR 9,000. The company won over the jury with its AI platform for integrated diagnostics that links laboratory findings, symptoms and pre-existing conditions with medical expertise, thereby providing support for doctors. The solution, which is approved as a medical device, is already in use in leading laboratory chains as well as university hospitals in German-speaking countries and the Benelux countries.

At this year's awards ceremony, two special prizes were presented for thriving successor companies. One went to PFS Anlagenbau UG in Salzwedel, Saxony-Anhalt. The company emerged from the acquisition of SRS Industrieofenbau. PFS upgrades industrial plants and makes them more efficient through modernisation, automation and the construction of new industrial furnaces and custom plants. The other special prize went to CJBW Schiffsmakler GmbH & Co. KG from Flensburg in Schleswig-Holstein. Under the leadership of Annika-Fee Schulz, the company coordinates the entire port stay of ships in Flensburg's industrial port. When she took over the company in 2024, Annika-Fee Schulz secured the last shipping agent at the site and further developed port operations through modern processes. The special awards are endowed with EUR 5,000 each.

The KfW Capital Award was also presented at the event: The Best Female VC Investor category was won by Zoé Fabian-Frey from Noteus, while the prize in the VC Game Changer category went to Dr Hendrik Brandis from earlybird. The award for VC Exit Excellence went to Project A with the exit to Trade Republic. In addition, a special prize was awarded in the form of the VC Legacy Award. This went to Dr Andreas Rodin from YPOG (further information at www.kfw-capital.de).

State winners of the KfW Entrepreneurs' Award:

• Baden-Württemberg: medicalvalues GmbH
• Bavaria: Energyminer GmbH
• Berlin: Rulemapping Group GmbH
• Brandenburg: cureVision GmbH
• Bremen: Marble Imaging GmbH
• Hamburg: goodBytz GmbH
• Hesse: Voodin Blade Technology GmbH
• Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Mecklenburger Alltagsfeen
• Lower Saxony: Phaeosynt GmbH
• North Rhine-Westphalia: Schreinerwehr GmbH
• Rhineland-Palatinate: TENTA VISION GmbH
• Saarland: Detesia GmbH
• Saxony: Friends not Food GmbH
• Saxony-Anhalt: Dorfkraft Holding GmbH
• Schleswig-Holstein: Celtrix GmbH
• Thuringia: Warmwind AG

All national winners are also nominated for the people's choice award. The vote is open until Monday, 30 November 2026, at https://gruenderplattform.de/blog/kfw-award-publikumspreis.

n-tv reports on the award ceremony and the winners in its Startup Magazine on 6 November at 6:40 p.m (repeated Saturday, 7 November 2026 at 12:30 p.m. and Monday, 9 November 2026 at 3:40 p.m.). The winners are also supported by a PR agency in their public relations work.

The prize winners were selected by an experienced jury, which assessed the degree of innovation, creativity and social and environmental responsibility of the business ideas.

Photos and further information about the winners can be found at www.kfw.de/award or KfW Entrepreneurs' Award 2026 - PEPERONI

KfW press contact:

Aenne Frankenberger, KfW Group, Palmengartenstraße 5-9, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Tel. + 49 69-7431 5792, [email protected]

KfW Entrepreneurs' Award press contact:

Michael Wasner, KfW Entrepreneurs' Award c/o Peperoni Kommunikationsagentur für gesellschaftlichen Wandel GmbH, Friedrichstraße 23A, 10969 Berlin, Tel. +49 30 25 77 17-96, [email protected]

KfW Capital Award press contact:

Sonja Höpfner, KfW Capital GmbH & Co. KG, Bockenheimer Landstraße 98-100, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Tel. +49 69-7431 4306, [email protected]