Aero Mate’s Founder Journey: Backed by the Gründungsstipendium NRW
Every startup has an origin story, and for Aero Mate, part of that story is closely tied to the Gründungsstipendium NRW — North Rhine-Westphalia’s founder scholarship program. Back in January 2020, the Startcenter NRW (Kreis Mettman) network partner reviewed Aero Mate’s idea paper and, in a jury meeting on January 20th, gave a formal recommendation to fund the concept through the Gründungsstipendium NRW. That vote of confidence gave the young team early momentum at a critical stage, before the company had fully taken shape.
That momentum carried into the following months. Just a few weeks later, Aero Mate was invited by the Düsseldorf Chamber of Commerce (IHK) to pitch at Start-Up Week Düsseldorf 2020, an event bringing together founders, investors, corporates, and experts from across the region’s startup scene. The audience and fellow participants voted Aero Mate’s pitch the best of the night, a nice validation that the idea powering the original scholarship recommendation was resonating well beyond the jury room.
For those unfamiliar with the program, the Gründungsstipendium NRW is run by the state’s Ministry for Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy. It supports founders at the early stages of building a business with a monthly stipend (currently 1,000 euros) for up to a year, along with individual coaching, and applicants need to pitch successfully in front of a jury from one of the regional founder networks spread across NRW. Since its launch, the program has supported thousands of founders, and it has continued to evolve, including a newer “Diversität+” component offering additional support for gender-diverse founding teams.
Looking back, that early recommendation and the Start-Up Week win marked an important chapter in Aero Mate’s path from idea to company, a reminder of the value that regional founder support networks and startup ecosystems bring to aviation innovation coming out of NRW.
