Soft funding
Looking to get your development costs financed without your ownership shares being diluted? Soft funding ensures financial de-risking and gives you time and money to work on your idea.
√ Equity free
√ Financial de-risk
√ Seal of approval
Soft funds at various levels
Technology Readiness Level (TRL)
Examples of soft funds
Important success criteria
LEVEL 1: Idea and research
Examples of soft funds include:
Important success criteria are to describe your early research and innovation.
LEVEL 2: Conceptualization
LEVEL 3: Experimentation
Examples of soft funds include:
Important success criteria are to describe your impact, team and market feedback.
LEVEL 4-5: Prototype validation
LEVEL 6-7: Prototype demonstration
Important success criteria are to describe your business partnerships, project planning and business impact.
LEVEL 8-9: System complete, ready for production
By now, you have advanced to sales, licensing or the private investment market.
Important success criteria are to describe your commercial and operational goals.
- The higher up the scale, the bigger the cash, and the bigger the requirements
- The Kitchen have funds available at each level
- Preparation and planning will get you far
Pro tips
- Increase your chances by applying to several funds. The hit rate per fund is usually 25%.
- Make sure your startup is aligned to the criteria of each fund you apply to.
- Pay attention to how you describe your impact.
- Show bottom-up market validation.
- Plan your funding journey from idea phase to production phase.
Our grants
The Kitchen also offer selected grants for startups from Aarhus University in collaboration with our partners.
AU Launch
AU Launch is a grant for startup or spinout projects based on academia from Aarhus University to help them demonstrate the commercial potential of their research or idea.
BII Futures Grant
BII Futures is a grant for Master’s and PhD students at Aarhus University within life science and food tech.
Questions?
Reach out to our fundraising expert or join our workshops on funding.
