garage33

What garage33 does

garage33 is the official startup center of the University of Paderborn (Universität Paderborn), operating from a 7,000 m² facility on Ausblick 1 in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia, that opened in February 2024 under the TECUP brand. It runs a portfolio of free-of-charge programs for university members and regional entrepreneurs — including Find your Idea, Shape your Idea, the garage33 Incubator, the garage33 Accelerator, individual coaching, and curricular modules such as Prototype your PhD and Capstone Course — and connects founders to a 1,000 m² Maker Space with ten workshops covering IIoT, electronics, metal, wood, plastics, painting, CNC, laser cutting, 3D printing, robotics, and textiles. The organization operates an event-driven ecosystem including the moonshots & moneten summit, OWL Start-up Pitch, Call for Ideas, Meet the Start-ups, and Digital Investment Pitch, alongside the Business Angel Network OWL (BAN.OWL) which links startups to 120+ investors.

garage33 is not a commercial company but a publicly funded, university-governed institution with ~36 staff. Its economic base is grant funding rather than product or service revenue: ~20 million EUR from Land NRW for the Exzellenz Start-up Center OWL (ESC.OWL) covering 2019-2024, plus BMWK EXIST concept-phase funding for Factory33 in 2024. Sub-brands and projects include BAN.OWL (investor network, 2017), ESC.OWL (excellence-level startup center, 2019-2024), gr33nUP (impact entrepreneurship), Factory33 (a four-university B2B startup factory for industrial digital transformation involving Universität Paderborn, Bielefeld UAS, Universität Bielefeld, and TH OWL, with corporate partners someventure, Miele, GEA, and OEDIV), and the Start-up Campus OWL. Garage33 serves a long-tail of ~60 portfolio startups across logistics, healthcare, sustainability, manufacturing, and technology, with no commercial pricing and no app or API products.

Name

garage33

Legal name

Universität Paderborn

Website

https://tecup.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

garage33 is the publicly funded startup center of the University of Paderborn, providing free incubator and accelerator programs, coaching, and a 1,000 m² Maker Space to university-affiliated and regional entrepreneurs across Ostwestfalen-Lippe, connecting them to a 120+ investor angel network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Startup Incubation Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (61171)

akta.pro primary industry

Youth Business Incubators & Accelerators (EDAMAHAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Accelerators & Incubators (Investor-Operated) (FSANAAAM), Makerspaces & Fab Labs (Open Build Studios) (EDAMADAC)

Keywords

• Startup incubation
• Entrepreneurship programs
• Maker space
• Business angel network
• Startup acceleration

Headquarters

HQ city

Paderborn

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Public Funding / Non-Commercial: garage33 operates as a publicly funded startup center under the University of Paderborn and TECUP. All programs and services are free of charge for participants. Funding sources include BMWK (EXIST program), MWIDE NRW, and other government initiatives.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

garage33 is the publicly funded startup center of the University of Paderborn, providing free Incubator and Accelerator programs, individual coaching, Maker Space prototyping access, and connection to the Business Angel Network OWL (BAN.OWL) for university members, founders, and regional entrepreneurs in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe region.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• BAN.OWL: Business Angel Network OWL - a network connecting investors with startups in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe region, initiated in 2017.
• ESC.OWL
• gr33nUP

Products and services

• garage33 Incubator Structured incubator program for university members and founders that systematically prepares participants for their startup launch and first financing round. Provided free of charge to eligible participants.
• garage33 Accelerator Accelerator program supporting existing startups in scaling and growth. Provided free of charge to participants in the regional ecosystem.
• Maker Space Approximately 1,000 m² prototyping facility with ten workshops (IIoT, electronics, metal, wood, plastics, painting, CNC milling, laser cutters, 3D printers, robotics, fabric cutting) used by founders and researchers to build hardware prototypes. Provided free of charge to university members and startups.
• Business Angel Network OWL (BAN.OWL) Investor network initiated in 2017 by garage33 and Sparkasse Paderborn-Detmold-Höxter that connects regional startups with over 120 business angels and investors through events including Meet the Start-ups, Digital Investment Pitch, OWL Start-up Pitch, and moonshots & moneten.
• gr33nUP Impact entrepreneurship program supporting the sustainable transformation of business models. Project-led by Sumaya Islam at garage33.
• Gründungscoaching (Founding Coaching) Individual coaching sessions provided to university members and entrepreneurs to support their founding journey. Provided free of charge to participants.
• Find your Idea Workshop designed to help prospective founders identify and develop initial business ideas. Provided free of charge to participants.
• Shape your Idea Workshop for founders who have an initial idea and need support in shaping and validating it. Provided free of charge to participants.
• moonshots & moneten (Start-up Summit) Annual startup summit that brings together startups, investors, and ecosystem participants from the Ostwestfalen-Lippe region for visibility, pitching, and networking.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 60 startups supported in the regional ecosystem
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Paderborn UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partnergarage33 is the startup center of Paderborn University. The university provides institutional backing, talent pipeline, research commercialization opportunities, and funding support for the incubator.
• Bielefeld University of Applied SciencescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of the Factory33 consortium along with other OWL universities to establish a cross-university startup ecosystem.
• Bielefeld UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of the Factory33 consortium to create an internationally visible beacon for B2B startups in industrial digital transformation.
• OWL University of Applied SciencescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of the Factory33 consortium working to strengthen the startup ecosystem across Ostwestfalen-Lippe.
• someventure GmbHcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCorporate venture builder acting as entrepreneurial practice partner for Factory33, leveraging startups from companies and industry in the OWL region.
• MieleminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional corporate partner collaborating with Factory33 to drive industrial digital transformation and potentially spin off or support startups.
• GEAminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional industrial corporate partner engaged with Factory33 for innovation and startup ecosystem development.
• OEDIVminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional corporate partner in the Factory33 ecosystem for industrial transformation initiatives.
• it's OWL (Leading Edge Cluster)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLeading-edge cluster for intelligent technical systems that positions OWL as a pioneer in Industry 4.0 and 5.0, Industry.Zero, and Industrial AI.
• Fraunhofer Institutes (IEM and IOSB-INA)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch institutions in OWL that contribute to the innovation ecosystem and technology transfer opportunities.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Next Media Elevator: Hamburg-based accelerator for media and digital startups, operating programs with investor access and corporate partnerships. Comparable structure to garage33's event-driven founder support model.
• UnternehmerTUM: One of Europe's largest university-affiliated startup centers, founded at TU Munich. Operates incubators, accelerators, and Maker Space-style facilities that directly mirror garage33's model, though at significantly larger scale.
• Science4Life: German startup accelerator focused on science-based entrepreneurs, founded by Sanofi and Hessisches Ministerium. Operates structured incubator/accelerator programs with similar target audience of research-driven founders.
• RWTH Innovation: RWTH Aachen's startup and innovation arm, providing incubation, coaching, and funding access to students and researchers. Comparable in B2B/industrial DNA and university-backed model to garage33.
• Founders Foundation: Bielefeld-based (same OWL region) tech startup accelerator founded by Bertelsmann's Stiftung. Direct geographic and functional peer of garage33, with similar focus on coaching, investor access, and program-based founder support.
• SpinLab - The HHL Accelerator: Leipzig-based university-linked accelerator from HHL Leipzig Graduate School. Offers structured incubation/acceleration programs with mentor and investor networks, comparable to garage33's Incubator/Accelerator offerings.
• HPI School of Entrepreneurship: Startup education and acceleration program at Hasso Plattner Institute (Potsdam). Focuses on student and research-driven founders with structured programs, mirroring garage33's education-led approach.

Regional players

• Wendelstein GmbH: Bavarian public venture and startup builder focusing on university spin-offs. Comparable in mission (publicly-funded, university-anchored, regional development) but primarily serves southern Germany rather than NRW.

Emerging players

• Impact Hub Germany: Network of innovation hubs supporting impact entrepreneurs across multiple German cities. Partial overlap with garage33's gr33nUP initiative and general incubator/co-working model.

Others

• Startup Verband: German startup industry association representing the ecosystem nationally. Not a direct competitor but an enabling partner that shapes the policy environment within which garage33 and its peers operate.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/school/garage33pb

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about garage33