Which schools have the most startup founders? PitchBook’s 2024 ranking is in.
PitchBook — a database for mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital — has released its 2024 list of the world’s best undergraduate university programs based on the number its alumni founders.
Two schools in the San Francisco Bay area top the list: University of California-Berkeley is first with 1,811 alumni founders, 1,642 companies, and $59.7 billion in first-round venture capital investment.
Stanford University came second with 1,547 alumni founders, 1,397 companies and raised $80.1 billion in capital.
PitchBook compiles its annual list by tallying the number of alumni founders whose companies received a first round of venture funding over the last 10 years. This year, it based its analysis of more than 167,000 VC-backed founders.
Data used comes from the PitchBook Platform or is collected from publicly available and primary sources.
Pitchbook ranks universities based on MBA, Graduate Program, and Undergraduate founders, compiling three distinct lists. It also compiles lists of universities based on the number of female founders and European schools at all three academic levels.
TOP UNIVERSITIES FOR UNDERGRADUATE FOUNDERS
We find the next three schools on PitchBook’s undergraduate ranking on the east coast. Harvard University had 1,352 founders, 1,222 companies, and $56.98 billion raised to earn the No. 3 spot. University of Pennsylvania was No. 4 with 1,197 founders, 1,099 companies, and $52.87 raised. Massachusetts Institute of Technology came in fifth with 1,175 founders, 1,049 companies, and $53.64 billion raised.
PitchBook’s Top 10: Undergraduate Founders |
||||
Rank |
University |
Founder Count |
Company Count |
$$ Raised (Billions) |
| 1 | University of California, Berkeley | 1811 | 1642 | $59.70 |
| 2 | Stanford University | 1547 | 1397 | $80.09 |
| 3 | Harvard University | 1352 | 1222 | $56.99 |
| 4 | University of Pennsylvania | 1197 | 1099 | $52.87 |
| 5 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | 1175 | 1049 | $53.64 |
| 6 | Cornell University | 933 | 882 | $35.07 |
| 7 | Tel Aviv University | 893 | 755 | $29.85 |
| 8 | University of Michigan | 860 | 792 | $27.05 |
| 9 | University of Texas | 842 | 773 | $21.74 |
| 10 | University of Illinois | 739 | 687 | $24.10 |
Only one international school broke the top 10 in 2024: Tel Aviv University in Israel landed at No. 7.
For representation, U.S. schools dominated the list with 66 out of 100 universities ranked. Israel, Canada, and India each had six. Australia and United Kingdom had four apiece.
TOP UNIVERSITIES FOR MBA FOUNDERS
Pitchbook’s 2024 list evaluates 50 MBA programs from around the world.
Three U.S. powerhouses claimed the top three spots: Harvard University had a founder count of 1,881 over the last decade, followed by Stanford University at 1,189 and University of Pennsylvania at 1,147.
PitchBook’s Top 10: MBA Founders |
||||
Rank |
University |
Founder Count |
Company Count |
$$ Raised (Billions) |
| 1 | Harvard University | 1881 | 1729 | $79.40 |
| 2 | Stanford University | 1189 | 1077 | $67.96 |
| 3 | University of Pennsylvania | 1147 | 1053 | $40.17 |
| 4 | INSEAD | 916 | 841 | $23.77 |
| 5 | Columbia University | 835 | 782 | $26.22 |
| 6 | Northwestern University | 798 | 758 | $21.06 |
| 7 | University of Chicago | 710 | 660 | $20.77 |
| 8 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | 709 | 648 | $23.98 |
| 9 | University of California, Berkeley | 520 | 482 | $17.50 |
| 10 | London Business School | 451 | 422 | $10.92 |
In the last decade, Harvard MBAs have founded 1,729 companies raising at total $79.4 billion in capital. Its highest earning company is Northvolt at $6.9 billion followed by Generate at $4.3 billion and Kavak at $2 billion.
Stanford’s MBAs have founded 1,077 companies in the same time frame, raising $68 billion. OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, has raised $10.3 billion since its founding in 2015.
Rounding out the top five MBA programs by alumni founders are No. 3 University of Pennsylvania’s The Wharton School where its 1,147 MBAs founded 1,053 companies raising a total of $40.2 billion; No. 4 France’s INSEAD with 916 MBA founders, 841 companies and $23.8 billion in capital; and No. 5 Columbia University Business School with 835 MBA founders, 782 companies, and $26.2 billion in capital.
Pitchbook further narrows down its MBA list to break out the number of female founders.
Harvard again tops this metric with 384 female MBA founders, 365 companies and $7.7 billion in raised capital. Its top earning companies by female founders include Everly Health with $465 million and Pollen with $351 million.
Stanford comes in second with 233 female founders, 219 companies and $11.5 billion raised. Its highest earning company is Kavak at $2 billion.
Click to page 5 to see the full Pitchbook list by number of female founders.
GOOD B-SCHOOLS ARE GOOD FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Not surprisingly, the top-ranked MBA programs in the world are good at making founders. The top two PitchBook MBA programs for producing founders also topped Poets&Quants’ composite ranking of the best MBA programs in the U.S.: Stanford GSB at No. 1 and Harvard Business School at No. 2. Columbia University Business School (No. 5 on Pitchbook’s list) ranked fourth on P&Q’s MBA ranking.
Meanwhile, INSEAD (No. 4 in Pitchbook) topped P&Q’s composite MBA ranking for international business schools.
U.S. schools dominate the MBA list with 31 out of the 50 evaluated. Five countries have three universities apiece on the list including China, France, India, Israel, and the United Kingdom. Spain has two schools ranked while Brazil and Canada each have one.
TOP UNIVERSITIES FOR GRADUATE FOUNDERS
Pitchbook’s graduate list takes into account a university’s founders from any graduate-level program which may or may not have anything to do with business education. This may include a master’s in management, or in computer science, or in engineering.
2024’s list evaluates 101 universities from around the world.
Stanford flipped with Harvard for the very top with 4,214 alumni founders compared to 3,716 at Harvard. Massachusetts Institute of Technology came in third with 2,834.
PitchBook’s Top 10: Graduate Founders |
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| Rank | University | Founder Count | Company Count |
$$ Raised (Billions)
|
| 1 | Stanford University | 4214 | 3228 | $194.94 |
| 2 | Harvard University | 3716 | 3143 | $158.59 |
| 3 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | 2834 | 2177 | $111.97 |
| 4 | Columbia University | 1885 | 1673 | $57.36 |
| 5 | University of California, Berkeley | 1804 | 1501 | $68.01 |
| 6 | University of Pennsylvania | 1740 | 1502 | $54.56 |
| 7 | University of Cambridge | 1391 | 1163 | $38.44 |
| 8 | University of Oxford | 1307 | 1086 | $39.99 |
| 9 | Northwestern University | 1286 | 1128 | $32.98 |
| 10 | New York University | 1063 | 989 | $35.48 |
Again, U.S. universities dominate the list accounting for more than half (53 total). United Kingdom had the next highest number of universities at 9 followed by Israel with 6. Sweden and France each had 5 universities, Canada had 4, and three countries each had 3 – China, Denmark, and the Netherlands.
In terms of female graduate founders, Harvard has the most at 676. They founded 613 companies in the last decade and raised $15.5 billion in capital.
Stanford comes in second with 584 female founders, 490 companies, and $20.1 billion raised.
Click through to see the full list for Pitchbook’s best MBA, graduate, and undergraduate universities by number of alumni founders.
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
