MVP Development in Flanders and Wallonia: Budget and Support Routes

Founders usually ask what an MVP costs. A more useful first question is what you need to learn and how little software can teach you that. A minimum viable product is the smallest working version of an idea that real users can try so you can test whether they will use it, and ideally pay for it. Every extra feature before that test is money spent on a guess.

In Belgium the second question is whether a public body can share the cost. Flanders and Wallonia run separate support systems with different agencies, calendars and rules, and the schemes change often. This guide helps founders and small-business owners who plan a first software product to separate the routes that suit an MVP from those that are built for larger research projects, and to prepare a budget that holds up when an agency or fund asks for details. It is general information and not financial or legal advice.

A caution on sources. The Flemish details below come from an overview published by UNIZO, the Flemish organisation for self-employed people and small businesses, rather than from the pages of VLAIO, the Flemish agency for innovation and entrepreneurship. Treat every figure as a pointer, and confirm each scheme on the agency's page before you plan around it.

Funding bodies do not use the founder's definition. A grant or loan officer reads a project description and asks whether the activity is innovative, who carries out the work, what it costs and what happens next. A landing page with a waiting list is a valid experiment but rarely qualifies as an innovation project. A working prototype that solves a technical problem nobody has solved for this market may.

It helps to name the stage of your idea in the vocabulary the schemes use:

• Feasibility. Can it be done at all? A study answers this before you build.
• Proof of concept or business. A narrow technical or commercial test with real data.
• Development. Building the product or service to the point where it can be sold.
• Launch and growth. Customers, marketing and scaling, which is outside the MVP stage.

When you write your application, describe the work in the stage that matches the scheme, not in marketing language. Our MVP development service uses the same stages in its quotes, so the documents line up.

UNIZO's overview lists several Flemish measures run through VLAIO. For an MVP the most relevant are the following.

On the growth subsidy there is a conflict between sources. UNIZO's page still describes it, but a Forum for the Future article reports that the Flemish government decided to stop it: no new calls, while applications already submitted would still be assessed. Until VLAIO's own page confirms otherwise, do not build a budget on it.

Also notice the conditions that sit around these lines: legal personality, activity in Flanders, and age limits. A sole trader with no company may need to incorporate first, so involve an accountant early.

The Walloon Region organises support differently, with a financing agency and a network of regional investment funds and accelerators. The official Startup Wallonia pages describe Startup Boost, an early-stage investment programme of Wallonie Entreprendre for tech start-ups: a structured convertible loan of up to EUR 100,000 per project, meant to help founders develop, validate the market and prepare later funding rounds.

Applications are made in calls, so the programme is open only at announced times. The page asks for a pitch deck covering the value proposition and financial projections (P&L). The ecosystem page adds that Wallonia has local investment funds by province, such as Noshaq, Namur Invest, InvestBW, ORSA and Sambrinvest, plus accelerators such as Start It@CBC, IGNITY and imec.istart, which includes pre-seed funding. These are the places to ask about smaller tickets than a full loan programme.

Note that a convertible loan is a financing instrument, not a grant. It must be repaid or converted into equity on agreed terms, so read the loan conditions with an adviser before you sign.

If your company sits in the Brussels-Capital Region, the same UNIZO overview points to Innoviris. It lists support for a proof of business or proof of concept covering 50% to 70% of the cost, regardless of sector, and innovation vouchers of up to EUR 10,000 per year for SMEs working with a Brussels expertise centre on tests, validation, a proof of concept or a basic demonstration prototype.

At federal level, the overview names an innovation premium for employees, an exemption from paying over withholding tax for researchers, an innovation deduction and a tax credit for research and development. These tools depend on who does the work and how it is documented, so they are a matter for your accountant, not for your developer.

The practical lesson: the location of your registered office and activity decides the door you knock on. A Belgian company with offices in two regions may qualify in neither if the eligibility rules say "activities in the region" and your team sits elsewhere.

Whether or not you apply for support, a clear budget protects you. Split it into lines that a reader can compare with scheme rules.

Quote the budget excluding VAT and say clearly whether VAT is recoverable for your company. Our own simple websites start from EUR 300 excl. VAT, see pricing, but an MVP is scoped from your user stories rather than from a price list, so request a quote with a short feature list.

The most common failure is timing. Some public programmes decide before costs are incurred and may not accept expenses made earlier. Startup Boost, for example, runs about 8 weeks from application to decision. If you start building and spend your money first, you may ruin eligibility for support that would have reimbursed part of it.

1. Check eligibility first. Company form, age, region and sector.
2. Read the start-of-costs rule. Ask the agency in writing what counts as the start date of eligible expenses.
3. Get fixed-scope quotes. Two or three, with deliverables, hours and rates.
4. Apply with a clear stage. Feasibility, proof or development, not all three.
5. Keep working on what the grant does not touch. Customer interviews and landing pages cost little and do not conflict with applications.
6. Build in phases. Phase one proves the core; phase two depends on results and funding.

Phasing also reduces risk with a development partner. A first fixed-price phase of discovery and a prototype lets both sides test the working relationship before a larger commitment.

Keep a simple decision log while you wait. Write down each assumption you test, the evidence you collected and the date, because both funders and later investors ask how you reached your scope. If an application is rejected, the log also tells you whether to change the idea, the stage you applied for or only the way you described the project. Many founders treat a rejection as a verdict on the product when it is often a mismatch with the scheme's conditions, such as company age, region or the minimum project size.

Each instrument shapes your company differently, so compare them before you chase the biggest number.

• Grants do not have to be repaid but come with reporting, eligibility checks and often a minimum project size. A minimum request of EUR 25,000, as in the Flemish development project, rules out tiny experiments.
• Convertible loans bring cash early but convert into ownership or must be repaid; read the conversion terms and what happens if the product fails.
• Vouchers and studies pay a share of specific costs, which suits a narrow test with an expert partner.
• Self-funding keeps full control and speed, at the price of personal risk.

A common path is to fund a small, fixed-scope proof yourself, then apply for support for the larger development once you hold evidence of demand. Applications written after real tests describe risks more precisely, and selection committees tend to value that.

Use this list before any application or tender.

A development partner cannot apply for you, but it can write the technical scope, split the work into phases, document what is built and provide dated estimates, which agencies tend to ask for. If you would like to talk through a scope before applying, contact us.

• Overheidssubsidies voor innovatie - UNIZO
• Stopzetting van de KMO-groeisubsidie - Forum for the Future
• Startup Boost - Start Up Wallonia (Wallonie Entreprendre)
• Ecosystem - Start Up Wallonia