Frequently Asked Questions

Who is BSH (BSH Home Appliances Group)?

BSH Hausgeräte GmbH is one of the world’s leading companies in the home appliance sector and the largest home appliance manufacturer in Europe.

Alongside the global brands Bosch and Siemens as well as Gaggenau and Neff, the brand portfolio includes the local brands Thermador, Balay, Profilo and Constructa.

Founded in 1967 as a joint venture of Robert Bosch GmbH (Stuttgart) and Siemens AG (Munich), BSH has been 100 percent owned by Bosch Group since January 2015. Throughout its 50+ years of history, BSH has grown from a German exporter into one of the world’s leading home appliance manufacturers. The product portfolio includes cookers, ovens and extractor hoods, dishwashers, washers and dryers, fridges and freezers as well as small appliances like vacuum cleaners, coffee machines, and food processors.

BSH Startup Kitchen is the Venture Client unit of BSH.

BSH wants to be one of the first players in the market to validate promising (technological) solution developed by startups and become one of the startup’s first clients. BSH Startup Kitchen orchestrates  the process for and together with BSH business teams. In a first collaboration BSH wants to purchase/ use a startup’s product, service, or technology. We do not invest.

Working with BSH Startup Kitchen is a startup’s initial step to succeed in the global, billion-dollar home appliances industry. Our model includes a no-strings-attached partnership to integrate and validate a startup’s product, service, or technology, as well as a beneficial pairing of entrepreneurs with top engineers and managers.

BSH Startup Kitchen focuses on startups that help the BSH organization to solve critical challenges across all business areas and functions.

For BSH building long-term partnerships as strategic suppliers is they key priority when it comes to engaging with startups. Investments are not at our core of our collaborations model.

Nevertheless, for selected strategic purposes, startups may also be evaluated by BSH Startup Kitchen for an investment on a case-by-case base.

Through BSH Startup Kitchen, BSH becomes a client of a startup – not their shareholder. Consequently, startups do not get funding, but will get a compensation for the collaboration in a pilot project.

You will receive payment for the pilot. How much we pay depends on how much you ask and be in line with the complexity of the pilot project.

All costs related to the testing and validation of your solution are paid. You can propose a budget based on our requirements.

Nevertheless, after having completed a successful POC, having gained BSH as a client should make it easier for you to raise venture capital and increase your valuation.

We are always looking for great startups that can help to improve our product, services, processes and operations.

We have no deadlines and are always open to receive proposals and learn about your solutions. But please also understand that your solution might not of high-priority for BSH at the time, and it is not efficient to engage in long discussions, if there is not fit at the current time.

The motivation for BSH to engage in the pilot project is to validate a startup’s solution and verify if a long-term adoption shall be triggered.

The initiation of pilot projects follow 4 basic steps:

  1. Demo/ Pitch: We reach out to you asking to explain/ demonstrate your solution to BSH business teams and experts. Based on your demonstration and your capability to meet the necessary requirements we will shortlist and select your solution for a pilot project.
  2. Offer: We will share a “POC Agreement” with you, ask you to create and submit an offer for BSH to test your solution in a pilot project.
  3. Engage: We start the pilot and your main task is to adapt your solution to our use case for validation. During the pilot phase you will engage directly with BSH business teams and key experts.
  4. Scale: After a successful POC we create a roadmap together with the BSH business team to make sure your solution can be applied and scaled throughout BSH.

Relevance
Your solution (product, service or technology) has a compelling use case to solve a critical challenge at any BSH business division: R&D, services, manufacturing, IT, sales & marketing, HR…

Product maturity
Your startup has a functional prototype or working product. Prototypes must be mature enough to be tested in a BSH division.

Funding status
Your startup has graduated from an equity accelerator or has funding from a professional venture capitalist.

Full-time team
Main positions (CEO, CTO, CMO, etc.) of your startup are held by full-time employees.

Legal entity
Your startup must be a legal entity.

Gain BSH as your reference client.

We are looking to partner with top startups like yours!

Contact us