PITCHBOOK’S BEST UNIVERSITIES FOR UNDERGRADUATE 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 | University of California, Berkeley | 1811 | 1642 | $59.70 | United States |
| 2 | Stanford University | 1547 | 1397 | $80.09 | United States |
| 3 | Harvard University | 1352 | 1222 | $56.99 | United States |
| 4 | University of Pennsylvania | 1197 | 1099 | $52.87 | United States |
| 5 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | 1175 | 1049 | $53.64 | United States |
| 6 | Cornell University | 933 | 882 | $35.07 | United States |
| 7 | Tel Aviv University | 893 | 755 | $29.85 | Israel |
| 8 | University of Michigan | 860 | 792 | $27.05 | United States |
| 9 | University of Texas | 842 | 773 | $21.74 | United States |
| 10 | University of Illinois | 739 | 687 | $24.10 | United States |
| 11 | Yale University | 702 | 657 | $28.00 | United States |
| 12 | University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) | 690 | 665 | $17.00 | United States |
| 13 | Columbia University | 677 | 636 | $20.91 | United States |
| 14 | Princeton University | 667 | 627 | $32.98 | United States |
| 15 | University of Southern California (USC) | 649 | 600 | $30.03 | United States |
| 16 | Technion – Israel Institute of Technology | 644 | 556 | $20.66 | Israel |
| 17 | Duke University | 607 | 579 | $21.56 | United States |
| 18 | Northwestern University | 605 | 560 | $21.70 | United States |
| 19 | Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay | 598 | 466 | $18.43 | India |
| 20 | New York University | 587 | 555 | $17.99 | United States |
| 21 | University of Waterloo | 562 | 478 | $20.01 | Canada |
| 22 | Brown University | 559 | 520 | $26.54 | United States |
| 23 | McGill University | 558 | 511 | $19.94 | Canada |
| 24 | University of Wisconsin | 547 | 501 | $16.01 | United States |
| 25 | University of Toronto | 531 | 488 | $26.26 | Canada |
| 26 | Carnegie Mellon University | 529 | 475 | $16.75 | United States |
| 27 | Tsinghua University | 520 | 492 | $38.13 | China |
| 28 | Brigham Young University | 519 | 430 | $8.73 | United States |
| 29 | Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi | 509 | 433 | $21.91 | India |
| 30 | Hebrew University | 489 | 428 | $14.70 | Israel |
| 31 | University of Virginia | 475 | 449 | $13.45 | United States |
| 32 | University of Washington | 471 | 435 | $23.13 | United States |
| 33 | Georgia Institute of Technology | 460 | 408 | $11.97 | United States |
| 34 | Dartmouth College | 453 | 420 | $17.84 | United States |
| 35 | Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) | 451 | 421 | $11.63 | United States |
| 36 | University of California, San Diego | 448 | 425 | $13.59 | United States |
| 37 | University of Maryland | 442 | 425 | $10.53 | United States |
| 38 | Boston University | 441 | 424 | $15.72 | United States |
| 39 | University of Colorado | 422 | 404 | $9.62 | United States |
| 40 | Georgetown University | 395 | 389 | $12.31 | United States |
| 40 | Purdue University | 395 | 367 | $9.89 | United States |
| 42 | Reichman University | 385 | 324 | $8.69 | Israel |
| 43 | University of British Columbia | 367 | 323 | $5.57 | Canada |
| 44 | National University of Singapore | 352 | 299 | $8.57 | Singapore |
| 45 | Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur | 346 | 289 | $15.16 | India |
| 46 | University of Florida | 345 | 317 | $11.18 | United States |
| 47 | Ben Gurion University | 333 | 298 | $9.12 | Israel |
| 48 | University of North Carolina | 332 | 309 | $5.59 | United States |
| 49 | Indiana University | 323 | 309 | $6.44 | United States |
| 50 | University of Oxford | 322 | 309 | $10.19 | United Kingdom |
| 51 | Indian Institute of Technology, Madras | 321 | 284 | $15.10 | India |
| 52 | Washington University | 313 | 290 | $16.91 | United States |
| 53 | University of California, Davis | 310 | 297 | $6.84 | United States |
| 54 | Arizona State University | 306 | 293 | $6.15 | United States |
| 54 | Johns Hopkins University | 306 | 287 | $9.71 | United States |
| 56 | Northeastern University | 305 | 285 | $4.84 | United States |
| 57 | University of Cambridge | 302 | 290 | $13.13 | United Kingdom |
| 58 | Ohio State University | 299 | 280 | $5.38 | United States |
| 59 | Vanderbilt University | 298 | 288 | $6.54 | United States |
| 60 | University of California, Santa Barbara | 297 | 287 | $5.60 | United States |
| 61 | Tufts University | 296 | 282 | $8.20 | United States |
| 62 | Peking University | 295 | 281 | $18.34 | China |
| 63 | Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur | 290 | 251 | $15.13 | India |
| 64 | Trinity College Dublin | 280 | 259 | $4.59 | Ireland |
| 65 | University of Arizona | 278 | 258 | $9.05 | United States |
| 66 | Boston College | 276 | 261 | $8.37 | United States |
| 67 | University of Chicago | 274 | 258 | $15.05 | United States |
| 68 | University of Notre Dame | 273 | 250 | $5.54 | United States |
| 69 | Queen’s University | 272 | 243 | $8.26 | Canada |
| 70 | Texas A&M University | 269 | 250 | $6.70 | United States |
| 71 | Rutgers University | 264 | 250 | $6.47 | United States |
| 72 | University of Mumbai | 263 | 247 | $6.93 | India |
| 73 | University of Minnesota | 259 | 242 | $4.47 | United States |
| 74 | Delhi University, India | 257 | 245 | $4.96 | India |
| 75 | University of Massachusetts | 254 | 250 | $6.14 | United States |
| 75 | State University of New York (SUNY) | 254 | 251 | $6.52 | United States |
| 77 | Seoul National University | 251 | 220 | $5.26 | South Korea |
| 78 | University of Melbourne | 245 | 226 | $4.41 | Australia |
| 79 | California Polytechnic University | 244 | 229 | $5.69 | United States |
| 80 | Emory University | 243 | 233 | $7.02 | United States |
| 81 | London School of Economics | 231 | 225 | $6.55 | United Kingdom |
| 82 | University of Sydney | 229 | 222 | $5.24 | Australia |
| 82 | Michigan State University | 229 | 220 | $4.11 | United States |
| 84 | California State University | 226 | 219 | $9.66 | United States |
| 85 | Virginia Tech | 224 | 213 | $4.89 | United States |
| 86 | Bar-Ilan University | 220 | 204 | $9.02 | Israel |
| 87 | University of California, Irvine | 210 | 202 | $5.73 | United States |
| 88 | Syracuse University | 207 | 196 | $3.32 | United States |
| 89 | University of New South Wales | 206 | 190 | $5.16 | Australia |
| 90 | Monash University | 205 | 195 | $2.49 | Australia |
| 90 | Copenhagen Business School | 205 | 185 | $3.22 | Denmark |
| 90 | University of London | 205 | 200 | $3.97 | United Kingdom |
| 93 | University College Dublin | 202 | 188 | $2.67 | Ireland |
| 93 | George Washington University | 202 | 195 | $3.37 | United States |
| 95 | Rensselaer Polytechnic | 199 | 187 | $5.49 | United States |
| 96 | University of Western Ontario | 194 | 184 | $2.40 | Canada |
| 96 | University of Utah | 194 | 178 | $4.62 | United States |
| 98 | American University | 189 | 175 | $2.43 | United States |
| 99 | North Carolina State University | 186 | 171 | $3.25 | United States |
| 100 | Wesleyan University | 184 | 173 | $3.56 | 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
