Most startup founders weren’t born being business-savvy professionals. Those skills are often nurtured during college. And a new list published Monday that ranks the higher-ed programs producing the most startup founders includes three Chicago institutions.
Of the 50 undergraduate programs included on the list, published by startup data firm PitchBook, the University of Illinois ranked No. 10 and Northwestern University came in at No. 31.
The list only includes founders of startups that raised their round of venture capital funding between Jan. 1, 2006 and Aug. 31, 2019.
The data shows that U of I has produced 563 founders across 519 companies, cumulatively raising more than $11 billion. Meanwhile, Northwestern has produced 355 founders across 332 companies, which have gone on to raise more than $8 billion.
U of I has produced grads such as Jeff Huber, the founder of cancer screening company Grail, and Al Goldstein, the founder of online lending firm Avant. Northwestern founder alums include William Shu, the co-founder of online food delivery company Deliveroo, and Shelby Clark, the founder of peer-to-peer car-sharing company Turo.
Stanford University took the No. 1 spot on the list, with 1,114 companies raising $37 billion. It was followed by the University of California, Berkeley (2), MIT (3) and Harvard University (4).
Other Midwest colleges that made the list include the University of Michigan (7), the University of Wisconsin (15), Duke University (20), Purdue University (37), Indiana University (41), the University of Minnesota (47) and Ohio State University (50).
PitchBook also ranked the top 25 undergraduate programs that have produced the most female founded or co-founded startups. Northwestern came in at No. 16, with 57 female founders across 56 startups, raising more than $1 billion. Meanwhile, U of I came in at just three spots below at No. 19 with 50 founders, raising $611 million.
Of the U.S.’s top 25 MBA programs, Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management came in at No. 5, producing 529 founders across 493 companies that have raised $9 million. For producing female founders, Kellogg landed at No. 6.
The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business ranked No. 8 among the nation’s top MBA programs, with 494 founders across 443 companies, raising $8 billion. When it came to how many female founders the program is producing, Booth ranked at No. 7.