PITCHBOOK’S BEST UNIVERSITIES FOR GRADUATE FOUNDERS
PitchBook compiles its annual list by tallying the number of alumni from each school who have founded capital-backed companies. This year, it based its analysis of more than 167,000 VC-backed founders.
Rank |
University |
Founder Count |
Company Count |
$$ Raised (Billions) |
Country |
| 1 | Stanford University | 4214 | 3228 | $194.94 | United States |
| 2 | Harvard University | 3716 | 3143 | $158.59 | United States |
| 3 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | 2834 | 2177 | $111.97 | United States |
| 4 | Columbia University | 1885 | 1673 | $57.36 | United States |
| 5 | University of California, Berkeley | 1804 | 1501 | $68.01 | United States |
| 6 | University of Pennsylvania | 1740 | 1502 | $54.56 | United States |
| 7 | University of Cambridge | 1391 | 1163 | $38.44 | United Kingdom |
| 8 | University of Oxford | 1307 | 1086 | $39.99 | United Kingdom |
| 9 | Northwestern University | 1286 | 1128 | $32.98 | United States |
| 10 | New York University | 1063 | 989 | $35.48 | United States |
| 11 | University of Chicago | 1016 | 885 | $33.33 | United States |
| 12 | University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) | 963 | 846 | $34.08 | United States |
| 13 | INSEAD | 942 | 864 | $24.17 | France |
| 14 | Tel Aviv University | 929 | 745 | $19.97 | Israel |
| 15 | Carnegie Mellon University | 865 | 714 | $32.79 | United States |
| 16 | Cornell University | 855 | 725 | $27.47 | United States |
| 17 | Imperial College London | 837 | 697 | $12.44 | United Kingdom |
| 18 | University of Texas | 796 | 690 | $19.84 | United States |
| 19 | University of Michigan | 786 | 659 | $25.33 | United States |
| 20 | University of Southern California (USC) | 784 | 691 | $28.59 | United States |
| 21 | Johns Hopkins University | 682 | 589 | $26.25 | United States |
| 22 | Yale University | 669 | 570 | $29.92 | United States |
| 23 | Tsinghua University | 632 | 579 | $39.27 | China |
| 24 | HEC Paris | 619 | 547 | $10.66 | France |
| 25 | University of Illinois | 602 | 488 | $15.90 | United States |
| 26 | London School of Economics | 597 | 570 | $12.02 | United Kingdom |
| 27 | London Business School | 590 | 543 | $12.81 | United Kingdom |
| 28 | University of Toronto | 575 | 453 | $25.89 | Canada |
| 29 | Duke University | 570 | 489 | $16.90 | United States |
| 30 | Georgia Institute of Technology | 511 | 442 | $15.78 | United States |
| 31 | University of Washington | 479 | 398 | $11.16 | United States |
| 32 | ETH Zurich | 468 | 326 | $7.00 | Switzerland |
| 32 | Boston University | 468 | 420 | $10.00 | United States |
| 34 | Hebrew University | 464 | 347 | $11.07 | Israel |
| 35 | University of California, San Diego | 412 | 328 | $13.50 | United States |
| 36 | University of Wisconsin | 396 | 325 | $10.21 | United States |
| 37 | Technion – Israel Institute of Technology | 386 | 309 | $11.76 | Israel |
| 38 | University of Maryland | 362 | 311 | $11.94 | United States |
| 39 | University of Minnesota | 339 | 275 | $13.57 | United States |
| 40 | University of Virginia | 338 | 299 | $12.38 | United States |
| 41 | Georgetown University | 337 | 315 | $7.54 | United States |
| 42 | IE University | 335 | 296 | $9.02 | Spain |
| 43 | University of Colorado | 317 | 268 | $7.87 | United States |
| 44 | ESADE | 313 | 286 | $8.42 | Spain |
| 44 | Arizona State University | 313 | 283 | $7.02 | United States |
| 46 | Purdue University | 311 | 267 | $9.28 | United States |
| 47 | Lund University | 307 | 235 | $3.31 | Sweden |
| 48 | Peking University | 303 | 290 | $12.29 | China |
| 49 | Technical University of Munich | 297 | 243 | $6.06 | Germany |
| 49 | National University of Singapore | 297 | 271 | $7.06 | Singapore |
| 51 | University of Florida | 291 | 241 | $4.23 | United States |
| 52 | McGill University | 288 | 247 | $9.21 | Canada |
| 53 | University of British Columbia | 281 | 236 | $16.12 | Canada |
| 53 | Delft University of Technology | 281 | 231 | $2.15 | Netherlands |
| 55 | California Institute of Technology | 279 | 226 | $8.13 | United States |
| 56 | University College London | 275 | 243 | $5.77 | United Kingdom |
| 57 | Copenhagen Business School | 272 | 244 | $2.71 | Denmark |
| 58 | Ohio State University | 271 | 236 | $4.63 | United States |
| 59 | Washington University | 268 | 222 | $12.18 | United States |
| 60 | George Washington University | 266 | 254 | $6.38 | United States |
| 61 | Babson College | 262 | 239 | $4.53 | United States |
| 62 | University of Edinburgh, Scotland | 261 | 237 | $4.51 | United Kingdom |
| 63 | University of North Carolina | 258 | 239 | $7.44 | United States |
| 64 | Princeton University | 248 | 215 | $8.15 | United States |
| 65 | University of London | 246 | 225 | $5.56 | United Kingdom |
| 66 | Technical University of Denmark | 243 | 180 | $2.54 | Denmark |
| 67 | Seoul National University | 242 | 184 | $3.71 | South Korea |
| 68 | University of Copenhagen | 234 | 176 | $3.69 | Denmark |
| 68 | Dartmouth College | 234 | 219 | $8.57 | United States |
| 70 | Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven, University of Leuven) | 233 | 178 | $3.03 | Belgium |
| 71 | University of Tokyo | 229 | 184 | $6.77 | Japan |
| 72 | Erasmus University Rotterdam | 217 | 199 | $2.08 | Netherlands |
| 72 | KTH Royal Institute of Technology | 217 | 188 | $9.50 | Sweden |
| 74 | Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) | 216 | 197 | $5.89 | United States |
| 75 | Vanderbilt University | 214 | 178 | $4.74 | United States |
| 76 | Indiana University | 213 | 194 | $4.88 | United States |
| 77 | ESCP Europe | 211 | 198 | $5.76 | France |
| 77 | Bar-Ilan University | 211 | 187 | $5.37 | Israel |
| 79 | University of California, Davis | 208 | 184 | $7.18 | United States |
| 80 | Northeastern University | 206 | 192 | $4.83 | United States |
| 81 | Bocconi University | 204 | 196 | $2.08 | Italy |
| 82 | Ben Gurion University | 203 | 164 | $4.87 | Israel |
| 83 | Texas A&M University | 202 | 184 | $3.86 | United States |
| 84 | Stockholm School of Economics | 201 | 179 | $3.70 | Sweden |
| 85 | Indian School of Business (ISB) | 199 | 180 | $5.69 | India |
| 86 | Uppsala University | 198 | 152 | $1.80 | Sweden |
| 86 | University of Pittsburgh | 198 | 168 | $3.86 | United States |
| 88 | University of Amsterdam | 197 | 181 | $4.44 | Netherlands |
| 89 | Chalmers University of Technology | 196 | 152 | $2.86 | Sweden |
| 90 | Emory University | 193 | 169 | $4.28 | United States |
| 91 | Rutgers University | 191 | 174 | $4.67 | United States |
| 91 | University of California, Irvine | 191 | 160 | $5.05 | United States |
| 93 | ESSEC Business School | 190 | 182 | $4.83 | France |
| 94 | Brown University | 188 | 159 | $5.49 | United States |
| 95 | University of Warwick | 187 | 180 | $3.03 | United Kingdom |
| 96 | University of Waterloo | 184 | 150 | $4.08 | Canada |
| 96 | Fudan University | 184 | 177 | $9.12 | China |
| 96 | University of Rochester | 184 | 153 | $10.98 | United States |
| 99 | Ecole polytechnique | 183 | 164 | $3.16 | France |
| 99 | Weizmann Institute of Science | 183 | 147 | $4.99 | Israel |
| 99 | Santa Clara University | 183 | 176 | $6.50 | United States |
PAGE 2: Pitchbook’s best universities for MBA programs
PAGE 3: Pitchbook’s best universities for graduate programs
PAGE 4: Pitchbook’s best undergraduate universities for founders
PAGE 5: Pitchbook’s best universities for female founders
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