A total of 912 undergraduate alumni who have founded 761 companies and raised $26.8 billion in venture capital make Tel Aviv University eighth in the world and first outside the United States among universities that produce successful entrepreneurs, according to the financial data company PitchBook.
Topping the 2021 PitchBook list are four leading American universities: Stanford University; the University of California, Berkeley; Harvard University; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Tel Aviv University’s spot in eighth place was followed by elite institutions like Yale University (11); Princeton University (13); and the University of California, Los Angeles (14). Three other Israeli universities are also included in PitchBook’s top 50: the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology (12); the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (31); and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (44).
It also comes on the heels of a 2021 ranking by the research and policy advisory organization Startup Genome, in which TAU—the only Israeli representative—was ranked fifth in the world for entrepreneurship.
In PitchBook’s separate global ranking for MBA programs, TAU’s Coller School of Management scored 13 of 25 in producing MBA graduates who have founded venture-capital-backed companies. MBAs at Harvard University, Stanford University and the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania placed at the top of this list, while the MBA programs at Yale University, Cornell University, Duke University, Oxford University and other leading institutions ranked after Coller.
Altogether, 351 alumni with MBAs from TAU have raised a total of $8.8 billion for founding 330 companies with the highest investments registered in Wiliot, Fabric, BlueVine, Forter, Houzz and others.
Professor Moshe Zviran, dean of the Coller School of Management, and chief entrepreneurship and innovation officer at TAU, said “our place among the world’s leading institutions reflects the achievements of our alumni and their contribution to the establishment and accelerated growth of many companies. The extensive knowledge, insight and toolbox acquired by students in all our programs and specializations assist our alumni in their entrepreneurial activities, giving them significant added value in the global technological and business arena.”
TAU also leads in PitchBook’s world ranking of female entrepreneurs who have founded companies with venture-capital backing, placing 20th for TAU’s female undergraduate alumni and ranking 14th for female graduates of the Coller School’s MBA program.
The 2021 university rankings are based on the number of founders whose companies received a first round of venture funding between Jan. 1, 2006, and Oct. 31, 2021. These founders received their undergraduate or MBA education from the universities outlined in this list.
