University of Pennsylvania produces a lot of successful entrepreneurs — more than most other universities around the world, according to new venture capital data.
PitchBook released its 2023 list of the best universities for founders, and the local Ivy League school ranked high compared to other institutions.
These rankings are determined by the number of founders whose companies received its first round of VC funding between January 2013 and September 2023, and includes data from more than 150,000 founders.
Here is how Penn ranked among PitchBook’s list of global universities:
- Penn ranked fourth among undergraduate schools this year with 1,083 founders, 993 companies and $34 billion raised.
- The university ranked #15 for graduate schools with 525 founders, 473 companies and $1 billion raised.
- And it ranked third among MBA programs with 1,043 founders, 962 companies and $37 billion.
PitchBook also compared schools according to the success of their women grads. Here are Penn’s rankings for female founders:
- Penn ranked fourth on the list for undergraduate female founders with 177 founders, 174 companies and $2.9 million raised.
- It ranked #11 among graduate schools for female founders with 71 founders, 62 companies and $3 million raised.
- And it ranked #3 among MBA programs with 155 founders, 148 companies and $2.5 billion raised.
See the female founder rankings
See how the university’s 2023 rankings compare to last year’s.
And worth noting: Not all entrepreneurs raise VC, and raising venture capital doesn’t mean your company will be successful.
Sarah Huffman is a 2022-2023 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.Knowledge is power!
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