What Beelys does

Beelys operates the Centre d'Entrepreneuriat Lyon Saint-Étienne (CELSE), a public university-affiliated entrepreneurship support center hosted by the Université de Lyon and operating as a member node of the national Pépite France student entrepreneurship network. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Lyon, France, the organization delivers a phased service portfolio — Sensibilisation (awareness), Pré-incubation (initiation and immersion), and Incubation (consolidation and pre-acceleration) — targeted at students and recent graduates from Bac level upward across any field of study who wish to explore or launch entrepreneurial ventures. Complementary offerings include the annual Campus Création competition (currently in its 23rd edition) and the Devenir étudiant-entrepreneur status program that lets enrolled students formalize their entrepreneurial trajectory within the academic framework.

The underlying "technology" is a structured program methodology rather than a software platform: there are no APIs, no proprietary models, no AI components, and no app or SDK surface disclosed. Services are delivered through human-led mentorship, workshops, networking events, and structured cohorts aligned to project maturity. Marketing and distribution rely on a mix of organic social media (Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter), a newsletter subscription funnel, and informational website content, all positioned top-of-funnel for awareness rather than commercial conversion.

The business model is institutional rather than commercial: CELSE charges no fees to its student or graduate end-users, and the center is funded by a stack of public partners including Bpifrance, Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Métropole de Lyon, and the Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche (MESRI). With 11–50 employees and no disclosed revenue, ARR, pricing, or customer-count metrics, the entity operates as a publicly mandated support program embedded in the French higher-education entrepreneurship policy stack rather than as a market-revenue enterprise.

Name

Beelys

Website

https://beelys.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Beelys operates CELSE, a publicly funded university-affiliated entrepreneurship center in Lyon, France, delivering free phased programs (awareness, pre-incubation, incubation) and an annual competition to Université de Lyon students and recent graduates as a member of the national Pépite France network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Entrepreneurship Support Services

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Entrepreneurship Foundations & Startup Basics (EDAMAHAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Marketing, Branding & Sales Skills (EDAMAHAG), Business Planning, Pitching & Competitions (Pitch Decks, Demo Days) (EDAMAHAB)

Keywords

• Student entrepreneurship programs
• Startup incubation services
• University entrepreneurship center
• Pre-incubation support
• Business creation guidance

Headquarters

HQ city

Lyon

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Beelys operates an entrepreneurship support center (Centre d'Entrepreneuriat Lyon Saint-Étienne, CELSE) affiliated with Université de Lyon and the national Pépite France network. It delivers a phased portfolio of programs — Sensibilisation (awareness), Pré-incubation (initiation and immersion), and Incubation (consolidation and pre-acceleration) — to support students and graduates in creating and developing entrepreneurial projects. Additional offerings include an annual Campus Création competition (23rd edition) and the Devenir étudiant-entrepreneur status program.

Product overview

Beelys (Centre d'Entrepreneuriat Lyon Saint-Étienne - CELSE) is an entrepreneurship support center affiliated with Université de Lyon and the Pépite France network. It offers a phased service portfolio comprising Sensibilisation (awareness), Pré-incubation (initiation), and Incubation (consolidation) programs, each designed to support students at different stages of entrepreneurial development from initial ideation through pre-acceleration. Additional offerings include the Campus Création annual competition and the student-entrepreneur status program. The programs are offered in French and are designed for students holding a Baccalaureate or equivalent.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sensibilisation Awareness program that informs, initiates, and enables students to experiment with entrepreneurship concepts and mindsets; aimed at students and graduates considering entrepreneurship.
• Pré-incubation Initiation and immersion phase offering structured support for students developing early-stage entrepreneurial concepts; designed for students at Bac level or equivalent who are moving from idea to project formation.
• Incubation Consolidation and pre-acceleration phase helping entrepreneurs refine their business models and prepare for market launch; targets students and graduates with more mature projects ready to scale.
• Campus Création Annual entrepreneurship competition (23rd edition in source) celebrating and awarding student-created entrepreneurial projects; open to student entrepreneurs in the Lyon Saint-Étienne ecosystem.
• Devenir étudiant-entrepreneur Program enabling students to acquire official student-entrepreneur status, providing access to CELSE support resources and structured accompaniment for entrepreneurial development.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• Université de Lyon (UDL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHost institution for CELSE. Provides institutional framework, resources, and connection to the broader university network in Lyon and Saint-Étienne.
• Pépite FranceflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational network for student entrepreneurship in France. CELSE is a member of this network, providing national recognition and connectivity to other student entrepreneurship centers across France.
• BpifrancecoreOthers
• Région Auvergne-Rhône-AlpescoreOthers
• Métropole de LyoncoreOthers
• Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche (MESRI)coreOthers

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Regional players

• Euratechnologies: Tech incubator and accelerator based in Lille. Comparable as a regional French entrepreneurship support structure offering incubation, acceleration, and ecosystem services, but serving a different metropolitan territory.
• Paris&Co: Paris innovation agency running multiple thematic incubators. Comparable as a French public-affiliated entity offering structured incubation and acceleration programs, though focused on the Paris region.

Others

• Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Innovation: Regional economic development body that funds innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives across the AURA region. Comparable as one of CELSE's institutional funders and as part of the regional support ecosystem for early-stage entrepreneurs.

Direct peers

• Agoranov: Paris-based public science and deep-tech incubator supporting early-stage entrepreneurs. Comparable as a French public-affiliated startup incubator delivering structured pre-incubation through acceleration services.
• 1Kubator: French startup incubator running multi-stage programs across multiple cities. Comparable as a peer entrepreneur-support organization offering sensibilisation through incubation services to early-stage founders in France.

Broad incumbents

• Pépite France: National network of student entrepreneurship centers of which CELSE/Beelys is a member. Directly comparable as the umbrella ecosystem providing shared branding, methodology, and pipeline across French universities.
• Station F: Largest startup campus in the world, based in Paris. Comparable as a French entrepreneurship hub offering structured incubation and pre-incubation support, though operating at a much larger scale and on a paid/equity-aligned model.
• Bpifrance Le Lab: Bpifrance's research and foresight unit exploring SME/entrepreneurship trends. Comparable as an institutional node linked to one of CELSE's core funders (Bpifrance), operating in the same French entrepreneurship support ecosystem.

Emerging players

• INSEAD ADventure: INSEAD's student entrepreneurship platform offering structured incubation-style programs within a leading business school. Comparable as a higher-education-anchored entrepreneurship support offering, but operating at an elite international business school.
• HEC Paris Startup Launchpad: HEC's student entrepreneurship support programs. Comparable as another French higher-education-embedded entrepreneurship support structure, though tied to a single elite institution and with different scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/pepitebeelys
• Facebookfacebook.com/328934307269269
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/beelys

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Beelys