"We have an 'unfair' advantage being a VC fund in a university"

"There are two main advantages of being a VC in a university. There are so many great things going on around universities that we have an 'unfair' advantage in identifying the great opportunities and investing in things before others," explained Nimrod Cohen, Managing Partner of TAU Ventures, which he founded together with Tel Aviv University in 2018.

TAU Ventures invests up to $1 million in early-stage funding rounds, but Cohen told CTech that the VC firm's main attraction is the added value it can provide its startups. "These days when money is pretty much a commodity, the fact that we have money is meaningless and we need to offer something more than money. Being part of the university allows us to offer our entrepreneurs all the resources around the university, from connections all over the world, knowledge around the university, help with the workforce and more. I think maybe the main thing is that our positioning as part of a university is very unique and has allowed us to bring the industry very close to us."