Cre­at­ing solu­tions for a world of crises

Impact start­up pro­gram to response to the effects of the war against Ukraine.

Impact star­tups play a key role in addres­sing the var­i­ous, con­stant­ly chan­ging cri­ses and chal­lenges we face in society.

PHI­NEO Star­tups seeks to con­tri­bu­te to this by edu­ca­ting and equip­ping a new genera­ti­on of com­mit­ted foun­ders with the necessa­ry exper­ti­se and skills. We aim to empow­er them in their jour­ney towards achie­ving a grea­ter impact in addi­ti­on to a finan­cial return.

Who are we loo­king for:

  • Do you have an inno­va­ti­ve solu­ti­on and approa­ch to the effects of the war against Ukraine?
  • Are you a non-pro­­­­fit and for-pro­­­­fit star­tup with strong entre­pre­neu­ri­al spi­rit and an impact-ori­en­­t­ed mindset? 
  • Are you a team con­sis­ting of at least two foun­ders and are based in Berlin? 
  • Do you have an almost finis­hed pro­to­ty­pe that you can test or an exis­ting start­up that you want to bring to a new level?

Appli­ca­tions for Ukraine Response Cohort 2 are open now!

Click here to apply on F6S …

We are now tak­ing appli­ca­tions for the sec­ond cohort of the Ukraine Response Pro­gram start­ing in June 2023. Appli­ca­tions are open until 16th April 2023.

We will review appli­ca­tions and select start­up teams on an ongo­ing basis – so bet­ter apply ear­li­er than later!

Time­line

Meet us and the teams of the first cohort at our Q&A sessions. We will host 3 Q&A sessions: on 22nd February, 9th March and 22nd March.

Why you should take part?

You can bene­fit from a tailo­red pro­gram with a needs-ori­en­t­ed cur­ri­cu­lum along sev­en elements:

  • Coa­ching: A dedi­ca­ted PHI­NEO Star­tups coach gui­des you through the pro­gram, cus­to­mi­zes it to your needs and hel­ps you build your startup.
  • Mas­ter­clas­ses: The­re will be a wee­kly trai­ning offer with work­shops aimed at addres­sing your needs and gaps and inten­ded to sup­port the acce­le­ra­ti­on of your development.
  • Men­to­ring by lea­ding experts: An expe­ri­en­ced men­tor will stand rea­dy to offer their exper­ti­se in wee­kly men­to­ring sessions.
  • Events: We offer dif­fe­rent types of events, e.g., com­mu­ni­ty events, pit­ching oppor­tu­nities, net­wor­king oppor­tu­nities & a final event and con­nect you with key players.
  • Co-work­ing: Joint co-work­ing is offe­red at bUm, a com­mu­ni­ty works­pace to work, meet, learn and impro­ve the world tog­e­ther. You can be part of this com­mu­ni­ty and have a space assi­gned in its pre­mi­ses. You will gain access to a place desi­gned to boost crea­ti­vi­ty and obtain pub­lic attention.
  • Peer-to-peer-Coa­ch­ing & com­mu­ni­ty buil­ding: We encou­ra­ge and faci­li­ta­te lear­ning and com­­mu­ni­­ty-buil­d­ing oppor­tu­nities among you and your peers.
  • Net­work: PHI­NEO is one of the pio­neers of impact inves­ting in Ger­ma­ny. We com­bi­ne impact and finan­cial know-how in one team. The­re­fo­re, we can help you finan­ce your pro­ject and pro­vi­de access to a net­work of impact inves­tors. In addi­ti­on, we sup­port you with our com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on to our broad net­work of dif­fe­rent sec­tor part­ners and one of the lar­gest Impact Inves­ting and Social Entre­pre­neurs­hip net­works in Germany.

Mile­stones and best prac­ti­ces from our Ukrai­ne Respon­se Cohort 1

What we have achie­ved so far:

  • 55+ start-up app­li­ca­ti­ons for first program
  • 10 star­tups – most of them with Ukrai­ni­an foun­ders – are par­ti­ci­pa­ting in a 6‑months incu­ba­tor pro­gram in Ber­lin from 11/2022 to 04/2023
  • 20+ acti­ve pro­gram par­ti­ci­pants – 77% of which are female
  • 10 dedi­ca­ted start­up men­tors with start­up or manage­ment expe­ri­ence in the impact sector
  • Con­ti­nuous streng­t­he­ning of the impact com­mu­ni­ty tog­e­ther with bUm, e.g. win­ter fes­ti­val with 70+ participants
  • Check out our Lin­kedIn chan­nel for more infor­ma­ti­on on the pro­gram and fol­low us to keep up to date with the app­li­ca­ti­on pro­cess and the cur­rent cohort!
Die Teilnehmer*innen des ersten Startup-Durchgangs

Selection of mentors and supporters

FAQ

For FAQ klick here …

The cur­rent challenge

Russia’s attack on Ukrai­ne in Febru­a­ry 2022 and the acts of vio­lence have chan­ged the world. The vio­lence has upen­ded the lives of mil­li­ons of Ukrai­ni­ans, lea­ding to food inse­cu­ri­ty, an ener­gy cri­sis and much more.

As a part of our Impact Start­up Pro­gram, you will get sup­port to design your idea or sca­le your non-pro­­fit or for-pro­­fit start­up. We are open to many top­ics as long as they crea­te impact. The­re­fo­re the issu­es ran­ge from refu­gee cri­sis, recon­struc­tion, food inse­cu­ri­ty and ener­gy sup­ply to health and legal issu­es and among others.

We also sup­port dis­pla­ced Ukrai­ni­an women who seek to estab­lish a new livelihood.

About us

Impact star­tups plays a key role in addres­sing the var­i­ous, con­stant­ly chan­ging cri­ses and chal­len­ges we face in socie­ty. This chan­ging natu­re also requi­res new busi­ness mod­els and approa­ches to streng­t­hen the resi­li­en­ce of our socio-eco­lo­gi­­cal sys­tem and make our world more liv­a­ble and sustainable. 

PHI­NEO Star­tups runs incu­ba­tor and acce­le­ra­tor pro­grams to sup­port impact star­tups in col­la­bo­ra­ti­on with part­ners from all three sec­tors. We sup­port the deve­lo­p­ment of solu­ti­ons to long-term cri­ses wit­hin the 17 Sus­tainab­le Deve­lo­p­ment Goals (SDGs). At the same time, we favour the deve­lo­p­ment of quick solu­ti­ons to acu­te cri­ses such as the 2015/2016 refu­gee cri­sis, the COVID-19 cri­sis, and the cur­rent war against Ukrai­ne. We aim to empow­er social entre­pre­neurs in their jour­ney towards achie­ving a grea­ter impact in addi­ti­on to a finan­cial return. 

The sec­ond Ukrai­ne Respon­se Cohort will start in June 2023. App­li­ca­ti­ons are open from 1st Febru­a­ry 2023. 

We will review app­li­ca­ti­ons and accept start­up teams on an ongo­ing basis – so bet­ter app­ly ear­lier than later!

Fol­low us on LinkedIn 

Check out our Lin­kedIn chan­nel for more infor­ma­ti­on on the pro­gram and fol­low us to keep up to date with the app­li­ca­ti­on pro­cess and the cur­rent cohort! 

Are you inte­res­ted in fur­ther infor­ma­ti­ons via news­let­ter? then send us an e‑mail to redaktion@​phineo.​org with the sub­ject ​„news­let­ter star­tups”. We will then add you to our list!

What can we do for you?

Sebas­t­ian Neu­mann
Head of Impact Star­tups
startups@​phineo.​org