Enter your email address below – the form will then guide you step by step through your application. You can pause at any time, and we’ll remind you to complete it.
After your written application, there are two more steps. The Impact Factory Incubator team reads and evaluates every application and makes the selection.
You start with your email address and then answer our questions about your team, idea and impact at your own pace. Finally, you upload your Value Proposition Canvas as a PDF. You can also attach a pitch deck if you like.
We review all applications and ask promising teams for further input. This helps us understand how you work and how well you understand the problem. You’ll have several weeks to complete it. We’re deliberately not revealing more!
If your submission is convincing, we’ll invite you to a final video call. Before admitting you, we want to get to know you personally and make sure our expectations match.
Shortly after the interview, you’ll receive a final acceptance or rejection. Before the program starts in Duisburg, we’ll invite you to a joint digital kickoff to give you a deeper look into the program.
So you know how we evaluate your application, we make our criteria transparent.
Are you solving a real social or environmental problem that noticeably affects people?
What positive impact will you create if you succeed, and how can it be shown?
Do you have the skills or lived experience needed to tackle the topic successfully?
Do you have enough time to take part in the program?
You're open to feedback, take advice and adapt your idea when conversations with customers point in a different direction.
Why do you want to solve exactly this problem, and why now, with us?
You're at the beginning of your journey. The exact solution, target market or branding aren't the focus at this point. It should at least be plausible that someone will pay for your solution later on. Above all, we want to see that you're seriously driving your startup forward while staying open to feedback. In the end, it's the overall picture that counts for our selection!
About five months, five fixed on-site dates: the batch comes together at Villa Anthropia in Duisburg for the kickoff, three Community Weeks and the batch finale.
Kicking off the batch together: getting to know each other, Theory of Change, Product & Traction and Team Effectiveness
Product & Traction, Team Effectiveness & Resilience and peer exchange
Minimum Viable Branding, Team Effectiveness and peer exchange
Product & Traction, Team Effectiveness & Resilience and peer exchange
Celebrating what we’ve achieved together: pitch event, outlook and, of course, a closing party
Between the in-person dates, we offer digital formats: workshops with experts or input from other founders. Participation is optional, so take whatever fits your stage. You’ll get the dates during the program.
Don’t see your question? You’ll find more in our FAQ – or email us at ifi@anthropia.de.
Founders from all over Germany whose idea aims to create social and/or environmental value and is financially viable. You can apply with a promising idea or a first product – solo or as a team, whether or not you’ve already incorporated.
The Incubator is for the early stage: you bring at least an idea addressing a socially relevant problem that you want to validate – or a first product (MVP) you want to take to market. If you already have a product on the market and a team, our accelerator IFA NRW is probably a better fit.
Yes. If your company is still fairly new and you’re looking for the right market entry strategy, the Incubator is the right place for you. This also applies to nonprofit organizations – in that case, we pay special attention to a viable business model during the program.
Hardly any – as long as your idea is credibly focused on impact. We don’t support business models that appear on common impact blacklists (e.g. alcohol or gambling), pure consulting services without clear innovation, or ventures that are permanently tied to a single person and therefore can’t scale, such as a pure coaching offer.
To start, just your email address. After that, we ask for key facts and contact details, a few texts about you, your startup and your motivation, and your Value Proposition Canvas as a PDF. Plan at least one hour – you can pause at any time and continue later using the link in your email.
We look at how relevant the problem is, how well your solution addresses it, how we assess your market opportunities, how your team is set up – and above all at your (potential) impact. Your motivation and willingness to question your own assumptions matter just as much to us.
The active program runs for about six months and is hybrid: about every four weeks we meet for a few days at Villa Anthropia in Duisburg, and in between we work digitally. In total, you’ll spend about 7 to 14 days on site per batch, and some sessions are mandatory. We don’t offer online-only participation.
Nothing. Participation is free, and neither we nor our funding partners take equity in your startup. You cover your own travel to the on-site sessions.
You'll find us at Villa Anthropia on the Haniel Campus in Duisburg-Ruhrort.
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