Applying for Investment from the Sovereign Tech Fund

The Sovereign Tech Fund invests in the development, improvement, and maintenance of open digital base technologies worldwide.

Unfortunately, we cannot provide prior advice on whether a project generally falls under our objectives. If you would like to apply for support for a project, please first check thoroughly whether all the criteria listed below apply.

On this page:

• Formal Criteria
• Selection Criteria
• Evaluation Criteria
• Application System
• What happens after the application is submitted?

Submission through our application system: submissions must be completed through the online application portal. No supplemental materials should be sent via email or any other form of communication at this time.

Completeness: applications must be completed in German or English. The questions must be answered to a degree that allows us to assess and evaluate the applications.

Proposed activities: the activities listed in the application must be related to developing or maintaining open digital base technologies. Development is our primary focus, although security audits, conference attendance, and other community-based events can be included in the application should they be necessary.

Estimated costs: The cost of the work described in the application must exceed €150,000 (current minimum).

Public financing: Projects are not eligible to receive financing or work commissions from the Sovereign Tech Fund if other public entities are already making or have made grants or investments for the same proposed activities. 

FOSS: all code and documentation to be supported must be licensed such that it may be freely reusable, changeable, and redistributable. OSI-approved or FSF Free/Libre licenses are acceptable for code. Creative-Commons-like licenses for documentation may not include non-commercial or “no derivative” clauses.

The Sovereign Tech Fund invests in open digital base technologies that are vital to the development of other software or enable digital networking. We invest in projects that benefit and strengthen the open source ecosystem. Examples include libraries for programming languages, package managers, open implementations of communication protocols, administration tools for developers, digital encryption technologies, and more. We do not finance the development of prototypes. Our currently funded projects show the range and type of technologies that characterize open digital base technologies.

We are currently not looking for user-facing applications, such as messaging apps or file storage services. If this changes, we will announce it here.

We only support technologies with societal relevance, i.e., technologies from which a broad public benefits or on which particularly vulnerable groups depend. The public interest in these technologies is not measured solely by the number of users, but also by their criticality in particularly important areas of society. The goal of funding is the independent use of digital technologies, as well as security, stability, and (technological) diversity.

To receive funding from the Sovereign Tech Fund, technologies must be under-supplied or threatened by other circumstances, acute or long-term, such as market consolidation or severe dependencies. The lack of support and resources or technical alternatives places the technologies in a vulnerable state that threatens the existence and sustainability of the project. Applicants must clearly state the extent to which there is underuse or overuse. We understand that these can have different manifestations and causes.

The above criteria determine whether an application is eligible for support. Applications that generally meet the formal and selection criteria are evaluated for along the questions asked in the application form.

The two factors most important for our evaluation and discussion are the relevance and undersupply of a project, as described above. Both factors are examined in depth during the evaluation. It is both the prevalence of a technology and the sector in which it is applied that are considered when we evaluate the relevance. We consider technologies whose longevity or safety is at risk to be vulnerable. Risk factors here include a lack of financial support, for example, but also a lack of personnel or a lack of governance structures. As mentioned, the reasons for these risk factors can vary.

Furthermore, we look at how well the planning for the project is laid out. Are the activities well-structured, appropriate and feasible? Another criterion is the people or team behind the project – does the application state clearly that the teams or organizations proposed here are suitable to implement the activities requested? Is there a community behind the technology?

The evaluation is generally guided by our strategy and mission. That is, from start to finish, we look at how the project fits into the mission of the Sovereign Tech Fund and contributes to the goal of sustainably strengthening the open source ecosystem in the public interest.

The Sovereign Tech Fund is not currently taking new applications until spring of 2024. 

Existing accounts and submissions on our platform will still be accessible, although the form for new applications on our platform is temporarily closed. Previously submitted applications and applications in progress are also available during this time, if they have not been removed in accordance with our data retention practices.

Go to the application platform

Create an account to submit an application. Please note that you will only receive a submission confirmation from us if you agreed to receive emails or SMS from us when you registered. If you change this in the settings after your registration, it will only affect future messages from us, such as acceptances or rejections.

Download a preview of the application form (PDF)

Incoming applications are reviewed on an ongoing basis and checked for compliance with our selection criteria and current financing options. Once we have received your application, we will send you a confirmation. It can take up to eight weeks for us to get back to you with a decision. If we are not able to provide funding for your project, you will receive a response notifying you that your application has been declined. If we are able to offer funding, our program team will reach out to discuss the details.

For technical problems, contact support@sovereigntechfund.de