KfW

Frankfurt – November 05, 2026 -- Baden-Württemberg-based medicalvalues GmbH won the federal title at the 29th KfW Award Gründen, taking home a total of €10,000 in prize money after a record 581 companies applied across all sectors.

medicalvalues wins federal title with AI diagnostics platform

Each of Germany's 16 federal states named one state winner, and each received €1,000. The 16 state winners then competed for the federal title, and medicalvalues secured an additional €9,000.

The company built an AI platform for integrated diagnostics. It links lab values, symptoms and pre-existing conditions with medical expertise to support physicians. The solution is approved as a medical device. It is already in use at leading laboratory chains and university hospitals in the DACH region and the Benelux countries.

Frankfurt am Main – November 04, 2026 -- KfW Bankengruppe lifted new commitments in its core promotional business by €26.5 billion, or about 43%, to a record €87.9 billion in the first nine months of 2026, against €61.4 billion a year earlier. All business segments contributed to the increase.

Group profit reached €1,399 million, more than double the €647 million of January-September 2025. The economic result, defined as group profit before IFRS effects, promotional expense and taxes, rose to €2,032 million from €1,364 million.

Domestic promotion climbs 39% to €57.0 billion on building and SME demand

Domestic commitments totaled €57.0 billion, up from €40.9 billion. Demand spanned the full range of building-efficiency products, including heating support, while SME customers sought climate, environmental, digitalization and innovation financing. KfW Capital committed €631 million to fund investments, up 72% from €366 million.

Frankfurt – October 29, 2026 -- Nearly 36 percent of German mid-sized companies still rated bank behavior in credit negotiations as restrictive in the third quarter of 2026, almost five percentage points fewer than in the prior quarter, according to the KfW-ifo Credit Hurdle. Lending conditions are easing, but remain tighter than the average of recent years.

Large corporates see restrictive lending fall to 27 percent

Just over 27 percent of surveyed large companies reported restrictive lending behavior by their banks. That is almost six percentage points below the previous quarter. KfW compiles the indicator each quarter from ifo Institute business survey data, broken down by company size and economic sector.

Frankfurt am Main – October 28, 2026 -- KfW committed €225 million through its ERP Founder Loan – StartGeld in the first half of 2026, a 75 percent increase on the same period of 2025.

KfW issues about 2,320 commitments, 34 percent more than a year earlier

Between January and June, the German promotional bank granted roughly 2,320 commitments under the programme, which covers business start-ups, company successions and the expansion of young businesses. Funding volume grew faster than the number of approvals (75 percent versus 34 percent). The KfW Start-up Monitor published in May had already shown rising company formation in Germany.

Frankfurt am Main – September 11, 2026 -- Germany has a realistic chance of restoring potential economic growth to more than 1% annually over the coming decade, according to a new KfW Research study, up from a rate that has slipped to barely above zero after standing near 2% in 2015.

KfW ties growth recovery to labor, capital and productivity gains

The study, titled "Standort Zukunft. Wie Deutschland zu neuer Stärke und Wachstum findet," identifies productivity as the most critical lever for reversing more than a decade of stagnation. KfW CEO Stefan Wintels and Chief Economist Dirk Schumacher presented the findings alongside a twelve-point policy paper in Frankfurt.

Frankfurt am Main – September 09, 2026 -- Thirty percent of German small and mid-sized companies (Mittelstand) with foreign business expect their cross-border revenues to decline over the next three years, according to a new KfW Research study, with 6 percent forecasting a sharp drop. Roughly 24 percent anticipate growth, while 47 percent expect no change.

The findings stem from a January 2026 survey conducted before the outbreak of the Iran conflict, meaning sentiment may have since deteriorated further.