The Startup Refugees Fund is administrated by Startup Refugees, a Finnish non-profit organization supporting refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants in entrepreneurship and employment. The non-profit association behind Startup Refugees is called Phoenix ry and it holds a money collection permit that allows collecting donations in Finland. Startup Refugees has a six years history of supporting newcomers in starting businesses and Startup Refugees Fund is the latest innovation of the association.  

The grant is sponsored by RELEX Foundation and Tietoevry. 

The funding is meant for all current and aspiring newcomer entrepreneurs who have participated in Startup Refugees Entrepreneurship courses or Business Development Program.

Your business can be already registered, or you are planning to register it in the future. It doesn´t matter if your business idea is different from your original plan that you had when you first joined our services.

Other eligibility criteria:

• You are the owner of the company, manage day-to-day operations and make long-term decisions regarding the company OR you will have this kind of role if the company has not been registered yet OR you are a light entrepreneur or self-employed (ammatinharjoittaja) who wants to further develop and grow your business OR you have a business idea that you will execute as an entrepreneur, a light entrepreneur or self-employed. 
• You have knowledge and skills to be able to start and run the planned business.
• Your language skills in English or Finnish are good enough to be able to communicate with Startup Refugees and authorities.
• You are 18 years of age or older.
• You currently live in Finland and you have a right to live and work in Finland. 
• If you run or plan to run a side business while working as an employee elsewhere, you must have a permission from your employer to the business for which you apply the grant.

The recipients of the fund are decided by a jury consisting of Startup Refugees team members and external experts. The evaluation criteria consists of:
– The viability of the business idea
 -The viability and realism of the project plan for using the grant
 -The ability of the applicant to execute the plan and to run the business
 -Need for the grant

Business type and grant proposal plan need to be eligible under terms of the grant scheme.

Startup Refugees Business Grant is meant to be used for start-up expenses or working capital of a new business, prototyping, testing market fit, or business development for newcomer entrepreneurs residing in Finland.

Most business types are eligible to be funded with Startup Refugees Business Grant, however, the following business types are not supported: weapons, chemical manufacture, pornography, drugs, gambling and betting activities, property investment, charities, illegal activities

Grant cannot be used for debt repayment. 

Grants cannot be transferred to a third party, which means that the person applying for a grant must also use it.

5.9.-30.9.2024 Application period. Late applications will not be accepted.

6.11.2024 Announcement of the grantees

Startup Refugees will personally contact every winner and announce their names in Startup Refugees communication channels such as in newsletter and in social media.

Startup Refugees will pay grants to the bank accounts of grantees within 3 weeks from the public announcement of the grantees.

The grant sum, the date of announcing the grant, the name of the grant recipient and of their company are public information. Grantee must give Startup Refugees correct and sufficient information regarding their person, business and the usage of the grant.

Grantee agrees to report on the usage of the grant to Startup Refugees within one year prior to receiving a grant. In addition they agree to give updates on the development of their business to Startup Refugees for a minimum period of one year after receiving a grant. The information of the updates and reports can be used in Startup Refugees communications e.g. in social media, but only after agreeing about the specific information disclosed with the grantee. 

Grantees must inform Startup Refugees immediately if they are not able to use the grant to the original purposes or the planned schedule of its usage changes significantly. 

In case grantee has used their grant for a purpose other than mentioned in the grant application and has not agreed upon the changes with Startup Refugees, grantee must pay the grant back to Startup Refugees.