NEXSTER Entrepreneurship Center

What NEXSTER Entrepreneurship Center does

NEXSTER Entrepreneurship Center is the in-house entrepreneurship and incubation hub of Hochschule Hannover (HsH) — University of Applied Sciences and Arts, located in Hannover, Lower Saxony, Germany. It serves students, faculty, graduates, and regional founders with free-of-charge programs covering idea validation, STEM-focused prototyping, founder coaching, mentoring, fellowships, and corporate innovation challenges. Core program lines include MINTx Co-Creation Lab (a STEM incubation track offering up to €7,500 per team over 3-6 months), EXIST-Women* (a federally designated program for female founders with €1,000-€3,000 monthly stipends, for which NEXSTER is one of only three providers in Lower Saxony), NEXSTER Venture Lab (3-month corporate innovation internships), NEXSTVENTURE (a startup safari event that scaled to 200+ participants), LeanLab (48-hour hackathons), and a Fellowship program.

Operationally, NEXSTER operates multiple physical facilities: a primary office at Ricklinger Stadtweg 120 (relocated September 2020), a 350 m² prototyping and coworking facility at the HsH Bismarckstraße campus housing MINTx (opened October 2022), and the VITRINE Hannover pop-up space at Raschplatz (2024-2026, operated jointly with kreHtiv Netzwerk Hannover). The center is staffed by approximately 15 people and runs programs in collaboration with named partners including kreHtiv Netzwerk Hannover, Grameen Creative Lab, DAAD, Hannoverimpuls, and Al-Balqa University in Jordan.

NEXSTER does not operate a commercial revenue model. It is funded through a stack of public grants including the federal EXIST program (BMWEK/formerly BMWiK), EFRE (European Regional Development Fund), the State of Lower Saxony, the City of Hannover via the WIR 2.0 program, and Hannoverimpuls. It holds the EXIST Gründerhochschule designation awarded in 2015 and is a recognized coordination node in the Hannover regional entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Name

NEXSTER Entrepreneurship Center

Legal name

Hochschule Hannover

Website

https://nexster.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

NEXSTER Entrepreneurship Center is the publicly-funded entrepreneurship hub of Hochschule Hannover in Germany. It offers free incubation, coaching, mentoring, and event programs to students, faculty, graduates, and regional founders through MINTx, EXIST-Women*, Venture Lab, NEXSTVENTURE, LeanLab, and Fellowship tracks.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Entrepreneurship Education & Startup Incubation

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (6113), Educational Support Services (61171)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Venture Creation Centers (EDAHAHAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Technical Universities with Entrepreneurship & Incubation Focus (EDAHAEAH), Entrepreneurship, Startup Incubation & Pitch Programs (EDAMAKAK), Makerspaces & Fab Labs (Open Build Studios) (EDAMADAC)

Keywords

• Entrepreneurship education
• Startup incubation
• University innovation programs
• Founder coaching
• Design thinking workshops

Headquarters

HQ city

Hannover

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Public/Government Funding: Funded through third-party funding (Drittmittel) including EU (EFRE), federal ministry programs (EXIST), and state funding. No commercial revenue model as this is a publicly-funded university entrepreneurship center.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

NEXSTER Entrepreneurship Center is a publicly-funded, university-based service center that supports students, faculty, alumni and aspiring founders in developing and launching startups. Its core offering consists of free incubation programs (MINTx, EXIST-Women*), interdisciplinary internship programs (Venture Lab, Nexster Internship), entrepreneurship education courses (Basisqualifizierung), flagship events and hackathons (NEXSTVENTURE, LeanLab, HannoLab, NexstWeek), and individual startup consulting (Gründungs-Beratung), complemented by a 350 m2 coworking and prototyping workspace on the Hochschule Hannover Bismarckstraße campus.

Product overview

NEXSTER Entrepreneurship Center is a university-based entrepreneurship support center at Hochschule Hannover offering a portfolio of incubation programs, internship opportunities, educational programs, and events. The core offerings include MINTx (a startup incubator for MINT students with up to €7,500 funding), EXIST-Women* (a women's entrepreneurship program with coaching and optional scholarships), and NEXSTER Venture Lab (a 3-month internship for innovation projects with regional companies). Supporting programs include NEXSTVENTURE (startup safari), LeanLab (48-hour hackathon), Nexster Fellowship (6-month support program), Corporate Entrepreneurship training, and various workshops in Design Thinking and business development. These programs are complemented by individual startup consulting services and a network of workspace facilities including coworking space and a prototyping workshop.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• MINTx: University Startup Incubator program offering 3-6 month incubation for interdisciplinary student teams with up to €7,500 funding, workspace, coaching, and prototyping facilities at the Bismarckstraße campus.
• EXIST-Women
• Venture Lab
• LeanLab
• NEXSTVENTURE
• Nexster Fellowship
• NEXSTER Basisqualifizierung
• HannoLab
• SofaTalk

Products and services

• MINTx University Startup Incubator
• EXIST-Women* by NEXSTER
• NEXSTER Venture Lab
• NEXSTVENTURE
• LeanLab Hackathon
• Nexster Fellowship
• Nexster Internship
• Corporate Entrepreneurship (NX)
• Gründungs-Beratung (Startup Consulting)
• HannoLab (Design Thinking Workshop)
• NexstWeek (Gründerwoche Germany)
• NEXSTER Basisqualifizierung

Quantifiable outcome

• 10 stipend recipients per EXIST-Women cohort with 6+ teams progressing to implementation
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• kreHtiv Netzwerk Hannover e.V.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 November 2024Regional startup network organization. Collaboration on events including VITRINE Hannover (pop-up space for migrant founders), IDEATION AWARD competitions, and various entrepreneurship events. Provided prizes for EXIST-Women finale.
• HafvencoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 November 2024Hannover-based startup hub and coworking space. Provided prizes for EXIST-Women finale and hosts startup events. Regular collaboration on entrepreneurship initiatives.
• VentureVillaminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorHannover-based startup accelerator/mentor network. Provides mentors for EXIST-Women program and other NEXSTER initiatives.
• Social Innovation CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on social innovation workshops and Design Thinking Zukunftsworkshop. Joint programming for startups focused on social impact and inclusion.
• Al-Balqa University (Jordan)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational partnership through DAAD Ta'ziz program for entrepreneurship exchange. NEXSTER hosted Jordanian delegation in December 2023.
• Landeshauptstadt HannovercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCity of Hannover provides funding through WIR 2.0 program supporting VITRINE Hannover pop-up space for migrant founders.
• HannoverimpulscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional economic development agency. Co-organizer of LeanLab hackathon events with NEXSTER and Leibniz Universität Hannover.
• Grameen Creative LabminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational social business organization. Co-hosted first Social Business Camp in Hannover focusing on UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• KIT Entrepreneurship (Karlsruhe): Karlsruhe Institute of Technology's entrepreneurship ecosystem including PionierGarage incubator. Comparable MINT-focused university incubator with federal EXIST funding and prototyping infrastructure.
• LMU Entrepreneurship Center: University-based entrepreneurship center at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München offering incubation, coaching, and startup programs for students. Directly comparable model to NEXSTER at a larger, better-resourced German university.
• TU Berlin Entrepreneurship (TUBES): Entrepreneurship initiative at Technische Universität Berlin providing startup incubation, EXIST programs, and innovation support. Directly comparable as a German technical university's entrepreneurship hub.
• RWTH Aachen Startup Unit: Entrepreneurship support at RWTH Aachen University, operating EXIST programs and incubator activities for STEM students. Directly comparable federal-funded university entrepreneurship model.
• Leibniz Universität Hannover Entrepreneurship: Sister university in Hannover operating its own entrepreneurship activities and co-hosting LeanLab hackathons with NEXSTER. Most geographically adjacent direct peer.

Regional players

• kreHtiv Netzwerk Hannover: Hannover-based network for migrant and underrepresented founders running VITRINE pop-up space. Regional peer with shared target segments (underrepresented founders) and co-event programming.
• Hafven: Hannover-based coworking and startup hub. Regional peer offering workspace and community programming that overlaps with NEXSTER's MINTx and event offerings in the same city.
• Hannoverimpuls: Regional economic development agency co-organizing LeanLab with NEXSTER. Comparable regional entrepreneurship promotion role with overlapping founder-support mandate.
• VentureVilla Hannover: Local Hannover accelerator and mentor network. Regional peer supplying mentors for NEXSTER programs while running overlapping startup acceleration activities.

Others

• EXIST programme (BMWK): Federal German government program (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz) funding university startup initiatives including the EXIST-Gründerstipendium and EXIST-Women that NEXSTER operates. Not a peer but the parent program framework.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/nexster
• Facebookfacebook.com/nexster
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/nexster-entrepreneurship-center
• Instagraminstagram.com/nexster
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@nexster
• Pinterestpinterest.com/nexster

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 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 NEXSTER Entrepreneurship Center