Top Entrepreneur Producers

Updated October 2021

Measuring the undergraduate institutions that produce the most successful entrepreneurs is not easy to execute with any degree of validity. Unlike measuring schools that produce the most future PhDs or medical school attendees, there is no clear-cut way to assess which colleges are producing the most innovative, industrious, and entrepreneurial graduates. Fortunately, thanks to Pitchbook, a leading financial data and software company, there is now a way to at least get a reasonable approximation of exactly that. By tracing the founders of companies that received a first round of venture capital funding between 2006 and 2020, the folks at Pitchbook were able to identify the alma mater of each VC-receiving founder in that timeframe. As a further measure, they were able to compute the total amount of capital raised by alumni of particular schools. Together, these data points present an imperfect, but still quite valuable look at which undergraduate institutions churn out the most successful entrepreneurs.

UniversityRankFounder CountCompany CountCapital Raised (millions, USD)Top Companies
Stanford University11,448 1,258 47,838.93Snap ($2622.76); DoorDash ($2471.7); Robinhood ($1711.93); Opendoor ($1345.06); Samsara ($1230)
University of California, Berkeley21,365 1,225 36,294.90DoorDash ($2471.7); GRAIL ($2001.66); Flexport ($1201.9); Cloudera ($1041.91); Zynga ($1031.1)UCB
Massachusetts Institute of Technology31,125 985 33,411.69Oscar ($1503.92); Indigo Agriculture ($1116.63); Toast (Boston) ($897.25); Ginkgo Bioworks ($797.33); Dropbox ($627.25)MIT
Harvard University41,100 988 41,238.64Coupang ($3964.43); Affirm ($1498.5); Cloudera ($1041.91); Peloton ($993.74); BabyTree ($813.02)
University of Pennsylvania51,021 932 22,640.00Snapdeal ($1581.39); Fuze ($489.31); Wheels Up ($449.6); Ninja Van ($398); Thrasio ($396.46)UPenn
Cornell University6888 824 28,593.93Lyft ($4912.36); Compass (New York) ($1683.24); Rappi ($1620.17); Samsara ($1230); ChargePoint ($671.9)
University of Michigan7835 760 19,133.75Groupon ($1138); 23andMe ($790.68); Carta ($692); QuarterSpot ($634.59); Tempus Labs ($570)UMich
Tel Aviv University8807 673 16,115.53Generate Capital ($1252.1); Houzz ($613.6); BlueVine ($426.29); Varo ($419.33); Exaware ($401.54)
University of Texas at Austin9749 686 10,239.85Niantic ($480); Zalora ($379.24); Acorns ($281.01); Apollo Endosurgery ($179.31); Icertis ($171.5)UT Austin
University of Illinois10621 575 16,412.26GRAIL ($2001.66); Affirm ($1498.5); Generate Capital ($1252.1); Avant (Online Lending Firm) ($654.23); Farmers Business Network ($619.3)UIUC
Yale University11616 560 15,565.2623andMe ($790.68); Convoy ($668.01); Dataminr ($572.37); One Medical ($532.66); Thumbtack ($423.85)
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology12602 509 12,373.53Better Place ($851.36); Gusto ($521.25); BlueVine ($426.29); Tango (Social/Platform Software) ($371.18); Gong ($333)
Princeton University13593 560 19,541.05Quibi ($1750); Nubank ($1028.64); Databricks ($897.36); Jet ($690); Cabify ($405.9)
University of California, Los Angeles14588 554 14,977.76Chime ($1492.75); BabyTree ($813.02); BrightSource Energy ($651.38); Vir (Biotechnology) ($493.1); Lalamove ($461.5)UCLA
Columbia University15546 510 15,283.07Compass (New York) ($1683.24); DraftKings ($1173.46); Zymergen ($892.44); Celularity ($582.7); Human Longevity ($568.06)
Brown University16542 496 20,579.33Gojek ($6250.96); Chime ($1492.75); CommonBond ($562.06); Warby Parker ($536.19); Scopely ($458.5)
University of Wisconsin17539 480 8,832.06Databricks ($897.36); Automation Anywhere ($840); Bird Rides ($776); Vindex ($380); OneRoof Energy ($194.5)
University of Southern California18520 480 17,848.99Gojek ($6250.96); Instacart ($2233.82); Careem ($784.6); Convoy ($668.01); ServiceTitan ($399.78)USC
Carnegie Mellon University19506 447 13,616.57Affirm ($1498.5); Sea ($722); RigUp ($517.5); Collective Health ($469); Lalamove ($461.5)CMU
Duke University20484 461 10,953.80Radiology Partners ($541.62); Coinbase ($525.31); Harry's ($474.75); Scopely ($458.5); Zalora ($379.24)
Brigham Young University21475 378 8,188.31Qualtrics ($400); Health Catalyst ($391.35); Lendio ($356.5); Xant.ai ($274.58); Pluralsight ($238.4)BYU
University of Waterloo22474 375 12,907.52Instacart ($2233.82); Wish ($1800.33); Databricks ($897.36); Netskope ($744.3); Kuaidi Dache ($700)
New York University23465 431 9,221.13DoorDash ($2471.7); Future Finance ($403.39); Kaminario ($262.72); Hike ($261); Thrive Market ($216.11)NYU
University of Washington24456 403 8,433.44Cloudera ($1041.91); Gogoro ($480); Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners ($400); HashiCorp ($349.54); Outreach ($289.44)UW
Dartmouth College25438 400 11,287.74Generate Capital ($1252.1); Freenome ($508.35); Remitly ($481.88); Funding Circle ($381.15); Lyra Health ($282.03)
Northwestern University26434 405 11,434.84Deliveroo ($1556.24); REEF Technology ($900); Outcome Health ($497.48); Turo ($496); C2FO ($403)
University of California, San Diego27419 400 8,690.16Getaround ($672.85); Human Longevity ($568.06); Kinestral ($337.57); Color Genomics ($265.44); KeepTruckin ($229.3)UCSD
University of Maryland28405 378 6,731.50LivingSocial ($929.91); Wheels Up ($449.6); QuantumScape ($396.28); Thrive Earlier Detection ($367); Tala ($217.1)UMD
University of Colorado28405 379 7,223.11AvidXchange ($1144.07); Gogoro ($480); Cylance ($327); HYLA ($325.94); Pacific Control Systems ($272.32)CU Boulder
McGill University30403 373 10,710.25Indigo Agriculture ($1116.63); Sana Biotechnology ($865.56); VICE Media ($500); Fuze ($489.31); AppDirect ($460.72)
University of Virginia30403 380 6,988.42Reddit ($550.66); Revolution Medicines ($226); MediaMath ($222.93); Forma Therapeutics ($217.51); MakeSpace ($160.59)UVA
Hebrew University32401 353 7,908.06Via (Automotive) ($586.88); Coursera ($463.27); Cybereason ($388.38); Insightec ($309.26); Fundbox ($307.5)
University of Toronto33392 353 10,305.45Moderna Therapeutics ($1722.9); Compass (New York) ($1683.24); Databricks ($897.36); TouchBistro ($209.73); Astute Medical ($189.6)
Pennsylvania State University34390 358 7,770.48Knock (Atlanta) ($597); Radiology Partners ($541.62); Virgin Hyperloop ($459.21); Iora Health ($382.32); Ro (Other Healthcare Technology Systems) ($376.1)Penn State; PSU
Boston University35379 365 13,694.18Gojek ($6250.96); ClassPass ($555.7); Prysm ($518.57); Credit Karma ($370.27); FuboTV (Acquired in 2020) ($326.6)BU
Purdue University36351 326 5,981.65Zymergen ($892.44); Traveloka ($670); Harvest Power ($259.24); MoneyLion ($221.29); Agora.io ($179)
Georgia Institute of Technology37350 310 7,035.69Peloton ($993.74); Glovo ($511.53); CrowdStrike ($481.15); AppDirect ($460.72); Credit Karma ($370.27)Georgia Tech
Georgetown University38324 312 7,564.89AvidXchange ($1144.07); LivingSocial ($929.91); CommonBond ($562.06); Sweetgreen ($533.19); Anduril ($385.1)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill39320 297 4,556.33Zalora ($379.24); Sungevity ($287.67); Looker ($280.5); AeroFarms ($214.48); Ncino ($205.11)UNC
University of California, Santa Barbara40306 287 9,328.66Lyft ($4912.36); 10x Genomics ($317.6); The Honest Company ($297); HouseCanary ($205.74); 4DMT ($184)UCSB
Indiana University41301 285 4,435.26Elevance Renewable Sciences ($461.32); Industrious ($236); AirWatch ($225); Gigabit Squared ($202); Light (Electronic Equipment and Instruments) ($185.7)IU
Tsinghua University42296 263 24,318.68Meituan-Dianping ($8800); SenseTime ($2866.56); Royole ($1352); Face++ ($1258); Meituan ($1070)
University of California, Davis43290 277 5,091.75Joby Aviation ($718.3); Conga ($329.25); Enovix ($219.28); Practice Fusion ($205.19); Kinnate Biopharma ($194.5)UC Davis
University of Massachusetts Amherst44288 275 5,231.20Auris ($738.15); DataRobot ($431); Enchi ($196.61); 128 Technology ($152.68); MC10 ($129.31)UMass Amherst
Tufts University45286 273 5,661.80Warby Parker ($536.19); Perfect Day ($361.45); InVision (Multimedia and Design Software) ($349.19); ONE Championship ($336); Ascend Wellness Holdings ($208.63)
Ben Gurion University46285 251 4,463.56Exaware ($401.54); Innoviz Technologies ($264); JFrog ($228); Vayyar ($188); Valens ($164)
State University of New York (all campuses)47284 280 4,947.68Illumio ($332.5); ACV Auctions ($295); PMV Pharma ($238.7); DispatchHealth ($203.2); VTS ($177.7)SUNY
University of Florida48280 255 3,204.86Apeel Sciences ($385); Fanatics ($365); JetSmarter ($131.15); LendStreet ($124); Molekule ($119.35)UF
Trinity College49277 254 4,780.4223andMe ($790.68); Cloudflare ($404.3); CapitalSpring ($291.27); Intercom ($240.5); Blu Homes ($217.05)
University of British Columbia50269 227 2,641.74CRISPR Therapeutics ($160); 17 Media ($159.5); Loji Logistics ($126.81); AbCellera ($115); Satellogic ($101)UBC

Pitchbook Universities: 2020. (2020) Retrieved from http://pitchbook.com/news/articles/pitchbook-universities-2020

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