aws Preseed + FFG + Forschungsprämie: How Austrian Startup Funding Actually Stacks

The short answer: yes, you can stack them, and most well-funded Austrian startups do. aws Preseed is a grant, FFG Basisprogramm is a grant-plus-loan mix, and the Forschungsprämie is a 14% R&D tax credit. They come from different bodies, follow different rules, and target different stages, so combining them is legal and normal. The catch is the Doppelförderungsverbot (double-funding rule): a euro that was already covered by a non-repayable public grant cannot also earn the 14% Forschungsprämie. The grant reduces the premium's eligible base. So the stack is real, but the overlapping euros net out. This post walks through each instrument, the caps, the double-funding trap, and a worked example.

The three buckets: grant, loan, and tax credit (and why mixing them matters)

Austrian non-dilutive funding falls into three mechanically different buckets, and the difference is the whole game:

• Grant (Zuschuss). Free money you do not repay. aws Preseed is the classic early example. Because it is non-repayable, it is the bucket that triggers the double-funding rule against the Forschungsprämie.
• Loan (Darlehen) / repayable mix. FFG Basisprogramm funds most projects as a mix of a non-repayable grant and a low-interest loan (the loan rate has been 1.75% p.a. since 30 January 2025, per FFG). The loan portion is repayable, so it behaves very differently for both dilution and the tax base.
• Tax credit (Forschungsprämie). A 14% cash premium on qualifying R&D spend, paid out by the tax office even if you are loss-making. It is governed by tax law, not by a funding agency, which is why it can sit on top of the others, within limits.

Mixing them matters because each one changes what the next one is allowed to count. A grant shrinks the premium base. A loan mostly does not. Get the order and the cost-allocation wrong and you leave money on the table or, worse, claim a premium you have to pay back. If you want the engineering-side detail on what counts as qualifying R&D, see our Forschungsprämie for software development piece.

What does each instrument cap at?

Figures below are from the program bodies themselves. Amounts shown are the standard caps; the higher figure in parentheses is the maximum with the gender bonus (a project with women holding more than 25% of shares at approval).

Note the FFG percentages: the maximum grant present-value caps are 45% for small, 35% for medium, 25% for large enterprises, and a research cooperation can lift that by 15 percentage points, per FFG. The headline "up to 70%" for startups blends the grant with the loan and other terms.

What is the double-funding trap that disqualifies overlapping euros?

This is the rule that catches founders off guard. The Forschungsprämie is 14% of your qualifying R&D base. The Doppelförderungsverbot says: the base must be reduced by any non-repayable public subsidy that has a direct economic relationship to the same R&D costs. In plain terms, you cannot collect a free grant on a cost and then also collect the 14% premium on that same cost. The grant comes off the base first.

The Austrian tax administration is explicit that tax-free public allocations, such as FFG grants or forgiven EU funding, must be deducted from the premium base (see the WKO research-funding brochure and ongoing VwGH case law). Two practical consequences:

• The grant portion is the part that bites. A non-repayable aws Preseed grant or the grant slice of an FFG project reduces the premium base euro-for-euro on the costs it covered.
• The loan portion usually does not bite. A repayable FFG loan is not a non-repayable subsidy, so the costs it finances generally stay in the premium base. This is why the grant-versus-loan split inside FFG funding matters for your tax position, not just your cash flow.

The honest framing: stacking does not multiply free money on the same euro. It lets you cover different euros, or the same euro once via grant and then claim the premium only on the part the grant did not cover.

What does a worked stacking example look like for a 5-person studio?

The numbers below are illustrative, rounded, and meant to show the mechanics, not to predict your actual award. Assume a 5-person studio with €400,000 of qualifying annual R&D spend (mostly developer salaries), at the early-product stage.

• aws Preseed grant: €89,000 non-repayable, covering 80% of an eligible early proof-of-concept budget of roughly €111,000. Call it €89,000 of free money against ~€111,000 of those costs.
• FFG Basisprogramm: on a separate €250,000 development project, say a 50% funding rate split as a €70,000 non-repayable grant plus a €55,000 low-interest loan. Grant: €70,000 free; loan: €55,000 repayable at 1.75%.
• Forschungsprämie at 14%: start from €400,000 of qualifying R&D. Subtract the non-repayable grant euros tied to R&D costs (the €89,000 Preseed plus the €70,000 FFG grant = €159,000). Remaining base ~€241,000. Premium = 14% × €241,000 ≈ €33,700.

Add it up. Non-dilutive cash in this illustrative year: €89,000 (Preseed) + €70,000 (FFG grant) + €33,700 (Forschungsprämie) ≈ €192,700 in grants and tax credit, plus a €55,000 repayable loan at 1.75%. Had you ignored the double-funding rule and claimed 14% on the full €400,000, you would have over-claimed roughly €22,000 of premium that is subject to repayment with interest on audit. The discipline pays for itself.

Which should you apply for first?

Order of operations, in the sequence we recommend to clients:

1. aws Preseed first, at the idea/proof-of-concept stage. It is the earliest-stage instrument, accepts pre-revenue applicants, and the cash buys you the runway to build the thing the other instruments fund. Apply when you have a credible concept, not a finished product.
2. FFG Basisprogramm once you have a defined development project. Basisprogramm funds the R&D project itself, so you need a scoped project with technical risk and a budget. It runs on a rolling basis, so timing is flexible.
3. Forschungsprämie last, retrospectively. It is claimed after the fiscal year on actual qualifying spend, so it naturally comes last. Because it sits on top, you book it knowing exactly which grant euros to subtract.

The reason for this order is the double-funding rule: you want to know your grant amounts before you finalise the premium base, not the other way around. A fractional CTO in Austria who has run this stack before will sequence the applications and the cost allocation so the buckets do not collide.

Q&A: are pre-revenue startups eligible?

Yes for aws Preseed, which is explicitly built for the pre-startup and early-startup phase and does not require revenue. FFG Basisprogramm also accepts companies in formation (Unternehmen in Gründung). The Forschungsprämie is paid out as cash even when you are loss-making, which is exactly the pre-revenue case, because it is a refundable credit, not a deduction against profit. So all three work pre-revenue, which is unusual and one of the strongest features of the Austrian stack.

Q&A: does taking a loan dilute me like equity does?

No. The FFG loan is debt, not equity, so it does not touch your cap table. You repay it (at 1.75%, with startup-friendly deferral), but you keep 100% of your shares. That is the whole point of the non-dilutive stack: compared with raising the same amount from a VC, grants and a cheap loan leave your ownership intact. The trade-off is that the loan is repayable and the grants come with reporting obligations. For founders weighing dilution against debt, our fractional CTO day rates piece and the fractional co-founder service are a useful frame.

Q&A: can a foreign founder access these?

The funding follows the company, not the passport. What matters is an Austrian company (or one being established in Austria) carrying out the project in Austria. A foreign founder who incorporates a GmbH in Austria and runs the R&D there is generally eligible across all three instruments. There is no nationality requirement on the founder. The practical hurdles are corporate setup, an Austrian tax registration for the Forschungsprämie, and project documentation in a form the bodies accept.

Q&A: what is the realistic timeline?

aws Preseed and FFG Basisprogramm both run on a rolling basis, so there is no single deadline, but expect a few months from submission to decision, plus jury or evaluation steps for aws. The Forschungsprämie is filed with your annual tax return and paid out after assessment, so it lands in the following fiscal year. Plan on the grants funding the current build and the premium arriving as a later cash injection. Build that lag into your runway model rather than assuming it all hits at once.

"The stack is real, but it does not multiply free money on the same euro. Get the grant-versus-loan split and the cost allocation right, and the Forschungsprämie sits cleanly on top. Get it wrong and you pay a premium back with interest."

Disclaimer

Figures current as of June 2026. This is general information, not legal or tax advice.