NOVUS Center of Entrepreneurship

What NOVUS Center of Entrepreneurship does

NOVUS Center of Entrepreneurship is an internal center within the College of Management Academic Studies (COLMAN), a private not-for-profit institution of higher education in Israel founded in 1985 and located on a 31-acre campus in Rishon Lezion, just south of Tel Aviv. NOVUS operates alongside COLMAN's School of Computer Science and School of Design & Innovation, and its core function is to support student entrepreneurship by holding special exposure events where student startup projects are presented to panels of investors, venture capital funds, and industry leaders. The center sits within a broader ecosystem of roughly 8,500 enrolled students, 1,000 faculty, 50+ academic programs across eight faculties, and a 60,000-strong alumni network.

NOVUS does not produce its own technology products; rather, it leverages COLMAN's existing educational platform and applied-learning infrastructure. Its underlying "product" is structured access — hackathons (with partners such as Nova Measuring Instruments, Samelet, and Pizza Hut), semester-long projects, the Edge-Ucation professional skills certificate program (with Bank Hapoalim, Deloitte, and Elevation Academy), and exposure events to investor panels. The supporting technology is the standard higher-education stack: an integrated learning management system, plus a Career Advisory Center that runs an annual employment fair with over 1,000 companies.

The business model is non-commercial at the NOVUS unit level. As a sub-unit of a nonprofit institution, NOVUS is funded implicitly through COLMAN's tuition-based revenue stream (tuition for undergraduate and graduate programs across business, law, computer science, design, economics, media, accounting, and behavioral sciences). The 9 employees associated with NOVUS are an operational cost center; revenue is not generated or reported at the NOVUS level. Go-to-market is subsumed within COLMAN's admissions-driven student acquisition, with partner engagement handled via the External Relations department through the CEO Forum (R Club) and HR Club forums.

Name

NOVUS Center of Entrepreneurship

Legal name

College of Management Academic Studies

Website

https://english.colman.ac.il

Company type

Private

Founded year

1985

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

NOVUS Center of Entrepreneurship is an internal unit within COLMAN (College of Management Academic Studies), a private Israeli not-for-profit university. It supports student entrepreneurs by hosting investor exposure events and applied-industry programs, drawing on a pipeline of 8,500 students and 60,000 alumni.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Higher Education

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (6113), Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (611310), Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (61131), Professional and Management Development Training (61143), Computer Training (61142)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Venture Creation Centers (EDAHAHAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Entrepreneurship Foundations & Startup Basics (EDAMAHAA), Business Planning, Pitching & Competitions (Pitch Decks, Demo Days) (EDAMAHAB), Makerspace, Innovation Lab & Fab Lab Operations (Tools, Safety, Programming) (EDAEAGAI), Corporate & Foundation Relations (Sponsorships, Grants, Partnerships) (EDALAOAE), Corporate Accelerators & Startup Programs (FSANAHAD)

Keywords

• Entrepreneurship education
• Startup incubation
• Investor exposure events
• Student entrepreneurship
• Innovation programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Rishon Lezion

HQ country

Israel

HQ region

Middle East

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Tuition and Academic Programs: Revenue generated through undergraduate and graduate degree program tuition, including specialized tracks in business administration, computer science, design, law, economics, media studies, accounting, and behavioral sciences.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

NOVUS Center of Entrepreneurship is an on-campus entrepreneurial platform within the College of Management Academic Studies (COLMAN) that hosts special exposure events where student startup projects are presented to panels of investors, venture capital funds, and industry leaders. The center operates alongside COLMAN's School of Computer Science and School of Design and Innovation, giving student founders a structured pathway from coursework to investor-facing pitches.

Product overview

COLMAN (College of Management Academic Studies) is a private not-for-profit higher education institution in Israel offering over 50 undergraduate and graduate programs across eight faculties. The institution's product portfolio consists of academic degree programs spanning Business Administration, Law, Economics, Computer Science, Design & Innovation, Media Studies, Human & Social Sciences, and Accounting. Key educational products include the Edge-Ucation professional skills certificate program, the NOVUS Center of Entrepreneurship for startup exposure events, the Go-Global international specialization, and the Career Advisory Center. Clinical education is provided through specialized clinics including the Meshane Clinical Center for Law and Society and the Designers' Clinic. The institution maintains close industry relationships through hackathons, externship programs, and collaboration with leading organizations including Bank Hapoalim, Deloitte, and Elevation Academy.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• 60,000 alumni making enormous impact on Israeli economy and society
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Bank HapoalimcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBank Hapoalim is a key partner in COLMAN's Edge-Ucation program, offering guest lectures and mentoring sessions. Additionally, Bank Hapoalim collaborated on a hackathon where students rebranded advertising campaigns for 9 small family businesses that won an early competition conducted by the Bank and Yedioth Ahronoth media.
• DeloittecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDeloitte is a partner in developing professional programs within the Edge-Ucation initiative, contributing guest lectures and mentoring to help students acquire sought-after professional skills and certificates.
• Elevation AcademycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerElevation Academy partners with COLMAN in the Edge-Ucation program to develop professional skills certificates, providing expertise and networking opportunities for students.
• Nova Measuring InstrumentsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNova, which develops and produces measurement systems for the semiconductor industry, partnered with COLMAN on a hackathon where 10 multidisciplinary teams tackled real-world development challenges. The winning team's idea was added to Nova's 2020 workplan.
• SameletminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSamelet, an importer of sports and luxury vehicles, partnered on a digital hackathon focused on automotive industry innovation. The first and second place teams continue working with Samelet to develop their ideas, with one idea likely to be chosen for implementation.
• Pizza HutminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPizza Hut collaborated with COLMAN's external relations department on a semester-long marketing project where students developed marketing ideas for the company, visiting branches and researching the field.
• TigburcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTigbur, an Israeli human resources and nursing company, partnered with COLMAN's School of Design to establish an aging-tech laboratory to develop solutions and services for the senior population within the framework of the master's degree in design innovation and entrepreneurship.
• Municipality of JerusalemcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Municipality of Jerusalem collaborated with COLMAN's School of Design on a project dealing with the future of the educational system, with students from 15 different schools creating design solutions presented at the Israel Museum.
• Courts Administration (Judiciary)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Courts' Administration for law students to participate in a judiciary workshop where they work alongside judges and observe the judicial process in action.
• Various Israeli Companies (CEO Forum/R Club)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA forum of approximately 40 leading CEOs in Israeli business and industry meets bimonthly with senior COLMAN academic staff for discussions, campus tours, and collaborative projects. The forum creates networking opportunities mutually beneficial for all parties.
• Various Israeli Companies (HR Club)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA forum of approximately 30 HR executives from leading Israeli companies (including Bituach Yashir, Israir, Electric Company, Aminach, TransIsrael, Nova, Assuta Ashdod, Danel, Carasso, Meitav Dash, Pointer, Soda Stream, Strauss, and EY) meets every other month for tailored discussions and joint projects.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Leading Israeli public research university with comparable breadth across business, law, computer science, and social sciences. Competes for Israeli students, faculty, and research funding.
• Ben-Gurion University of the Negev: Major Israeli public university with strong tech and entrepreneurship positioning, including active technology transfer. Overlaps with COLMAN in computer science, business, and engineering-adjacent fields.
• Technion – Israel Institute of Technology: Israel's leading public technological university with deep corporate partnerships and a large entrepreneurship/incubation footprint. Sets the standard for industry-linked STEM education in Israel and competes for top students.
• Tel Aviv University: Israel's largest public research university, located near COLMAN in the Tel Aviv metro. While public, it competes for top Israeli students, faculty, and corporate research partnerships across overlapping fields (business, law, computer science, design).

Emerging players

• MassChallenge Israel: Global accelerator with a strong Israel program, working with early-stage startups. Overlaps with NOVUS Center's mission of connecting student/founder projects to investors, VCs, and industry mentors — a partial alternative for Israeli student entrepreneurs.

Direct peers

• Holon Institute of Technology (HIT): Israeli public applied-research college with strong design, engineering, and technology programs located near Tel Aviv. Competes for Israeli students seeking industry-linked technology and design education, including via its entrepreneurship programs.
• Reichman University (IDC Herzliya): Israel's leading private, not-for-profit university, also founded in the 1990s, with a similarly strong entrepreneurship and industry-partnership positioning. Direct competitor for Israeli students, faculty, and corporate partnerships; the most relevant peer for COLMAN.
• Ono Academic College: One of Israel's largest private academic colleges, with multi-faculty programs including law, business, and health sciences. Competes with COLMAN for Israeli students across similar disciplines.
• Sapir Academic College: Large private Israeli college offering undergraduate and graduate programs with practical, industry-oriented curricula — competing with COLMAN for the same Israeli student pool.
• Afeka Tel Aviv Academic College of Engineering: Private Israeli academic college specializing in engineering and applied sciences, also serving the same Israeli higher-education market with industry-linked programs. Direct competitor for STEM students and corporate partnerships.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/novus-colman
• Instagraminstagram.com/colman_international

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries9 records

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 NOVUS Center of Entrepreneurship