The Gründungszuschuss, explained in English.

What you receive.

The grant has two phases, set out in § 94 SGB III. In phase one you receive, for six months, the amount of your last Arbeitslosengeldunemployment benefit from the Arbeitsagentur plus €300 a month for social insurance. In phase two you may receive €300 a month for up to nine more months if you show that your business is active. Phase two is a separate decision, not an automatic extension. The Gründungszuschuss calculator turns your own Bescheid into these figures.

What you need.

§ 93 SGB III, the paragraph that sets the requirements, lists them. All of them apply at the same time.

• A full-time business that ends your unemployment. A side business does not qualify.
• At least 150 days of Arbeitslosengeld left on the day you start the business. Count back from the end date in your Bescheidthe decision letter from the Arbeitsagentur. A Sperrzeita block without benefit, usually after quitting shortens your entitlement and can push you below this line.
• A viability statement from an expert body: the Tragfähigkeitsbescheinigunga statement by a chamber, a bank or an adviser that your plan holds up, issued on your business plan and financial plan.
• Proof of your skills to run the business: qualifications, experience, or both.
• An application before you start. The grant cannot be granted for a business that already exists.

Discretionary, with one change since 2023.

The grant is a Kann-Leistung: the agency can grant it and is not obliged to. Until the end of 2022 the agency also had to check first whether it could place you in a job instead. That placement priority, the Vermittlungsvorrangthe rule that placement into a job comes before funding, no longer applies to the grant since 1 January 2023 (§ 4 SGB III). Your caseworker still decides case by case, and a plan that holds up in the expert review is the strongest case you can make.

Timing: the order that works.

1. While still on benefit

   Plan and validate

   Business plan, financial plan, first customer conversations. Founder coaching through an AVGS can be funded for this stage.

2. Before you start

   Viability statement

   An expert body reviews the plan and issues the Tragfähigkeitsbescheinigung.

3. With 150+ days left

   Apply

   Hand in the application, the statement and the plan. The agency decides.

4. Day one of the business

   Phase one begins

   Six months of benefit plus €300. Register with the tax office and sort out your health insurance.

The sequence matters because of the 150-day rule. If your benefit runs for twelve months, you have roughly seven months to plan, validate and apply. If it runs for six, the window is about one month, and the Fit Call becomes a timing conversation first.

If you are with the Jobcenter.

The Gründungszuschuss is tied to Arbeitslosengeld. People who receive Grundsicherungsgeldbasic income support from the Jobcenter, since July 2026 have a different instrument, the Einstiegsgeldentry money: a Jobcenter supplement for starting work or a business under § 16b SGB II. Since 1 July 2026 placement into work comes first there (§ 3a SGB II), so support for self-employment is harder to get and depends on the individual Jobcenter.

After the grant starts.

Three things change on day one of the business. Health insurance has to be arranged as a self-employed person, voluntary statutory or private. The tax office needs the Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassungthe tax registration questionnaire, filed through ELSTER within a month of starting. And you can apply to stay in unemployment insurance voluntarily, within three months of starting. All three are part of what the Funded Founder Program sets up with you; none of them is tax or legal advice from this site, so confirm the details with your tax adviser and your health insurer.