BMW Group

Choose the right route

• The Startup Garage is the route to look at first. It pays startups to pilot a product, and it does not take equity.
• BMW i Ventures states a focus on North America and Europe. If you are based in India, do not count on it as a direct route.
• The Crowd Innovation Platform is for submitting ideas. It is not a startup funding programme.

How the Startup Garage application works

• Apply through the online form on the Startup Garage website. Intake is ongoing.
• Write the application in English and upload your pitch deck.
• The solution description is limited to 1,000 characters, so keep it tight.
• Name the BMW division you think could use your product.

What reviewers look for

• A concrete BMW use case. The form requires at least one in your solution description.
• A working prototype or product. This is a stated requirement.
• Proof of maturity: investment from a professional venture capitalist, or graduation from an equity accelerator programme. The partner page asks for this, although the form also offers unfunded and idea-stage answers.
• A valid legal entity. Companies of any country or form are accepted.

What to expect

• The Garage says it takes four to eight weeks from first touchpoint to final evaluation.
• A pilot runs about four months on average.
• What BMW pays depends on how complex your technology is.
• Questions can go to bmwstartupgarage@bmw.com.

BMW Group is the German vehicle maker headquartered in Munich. It has two separate routes for startups. The BMW Group Startup Garage is its venture client unit, and BMW i Ventures is a venture fund that sits outside the Garage. Neither is a grant scheme: the Garage pays startups to pilot their products inside BMW, and the fund invests.

How the BMW Startup Garage works

The BMW Group Startup Garage describes itself as the venture client unit of the BMW Group. It was founded in 2015. Unlike a venture capital approach, it invests in a startup's product, service or technology rather than taking equity. A BMW Group department pays for the prototype to be integrated and tested, and the startup keeps its shares.

How much BMW pays depends on the complexity of the technology. The Garage says it has no set limit. A pilot lasts about four months on average. The Garage also says it takes four to eight weeks from the first touchpoint to the final evaluation.

The Garage says it is not an accelerator. BMW Group's open innovation pages separately describe a BMW Incubator, which is aimed at internal ideas and BMW colleagues. That is a different unit from the Startup Garage.

Who can apply to the Startup Garage

The Garage is meant for startups in the early stages of development that have a use case for a BMW Group division. Startups from the automotive industry and from other sectors can apply.

The requirements stated are a functional prototype or working product, a valid legal entity of any country or form, and proof of maturity. The partner page says that proof is investment from a professional venture capitalist or graduation from an equity accelerator programme.

The application form is looser than that rule. It lets a founder answer that the company is unfunded or bootstrapped, or at idea stage with no functional prototype. The pages do not say how those answers are treated, so a startup in that position should not assume it is excluded or accepted.

The form lists India among the countries and includes Indian company types such as a private limited company and an LLP. No page describes a route aimed specifically at Indian startups, and the Garage does not set an India-specific rule.

How applying works

Applications go through an online form on the Startup Garage website, and intake is ongoing. The form asks for company details, legal entity, your role, contact details, website, founding date, number of employees and country. It also asks for a description of the solution, which is limited to 1,000 characters and must include at least one concrete BMW use case. You also give the BMW division you have in mind, your development stage, current clients, latest funding stage, capital raised, investors and a pitch deck upload. Documents are in English.

Track record

The Startup Garage publishes its own counts, and its pages do not agree with each other. The home page says it has assessed more than 6000 startups, run pilot projects with more than 280 startups from 26 countries, and that more than 38 became established BMW suppliers. The page marking ten years of the Garage says it has assessed more than 4,700 startups, worked with over 220 innovators from 26 countries, and integrated over 30 of them as trusted partners. Another passage on that page says it has analysed more than 5000 startups in ten years. Treat all of these as the Garage's own figures, not checked by us.

The Garage also says that over half of its alumni have secured paid follow-up projects. For 2025 it reports launching 50 pilot projects involving 30 different departments within a single year. Its office in Garching, Munich received the Red Dot Design Award for workspace design.

BMW i Ventures

The Startup Garage's site describes BMW i Ventures as the independent venture capital fund of the BMW Group. The fund's own site is run by a separate company, BMW i Ventures, Inc. It writes early-stage cheques and states a focus on Series Seed to Series B. Its stated geography focus is North America and Europe, so it is not a stated route for founders based in India.

Its listed interests are car development, digital sales and services, information technology, manufacturing, supply chain and sustainability. A recent fund announcement describes a third fund backing companies at the intersection of artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing and the changing automotive ecosystem. The pages we read give no application form or intake route, so we cannot say whether founders can pitch directly or need an introduction.

Other BMW Group innovation channels

The BMW Crowd Innovation Platform is an online platform where BMW Group launches challenges, which are calls for ideas on strategically relevant topics. Both internal and external innovation communities are invited to submit ideas. It is not a funding programme and it is not aimed only at startups.

Who runs it

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft (BMW AG) is a German stock corporation registered in Munich. Its address is Petuelring 130, 80809 München. The Startup Garage is a unit of the BMW Group, with an office in Garching, Munich. Startups can write to the Garage at its role inbox, bmwstartupgarage@bmw.com.