If you’ve ever wondered where VC-backed founders actually went to school, this chart from a16z and PitchBook lays it out in painful clarity. It ranks universities by the number of undergrad alumni who raised venture capital in the last decade. Spoiler: it’s not just Stanford and Harvard. There’s a whole bench of public schools quietly cranking out fundable founders.
How to actually use this info
This chart isn’t a magic college shopping list. It’s a map of where strong founder ecosystems already exist: investors nearby, alumni who’ve raised before, and a culture where building companies feels normal. If you’re at one of these schools, lean into the network hard. If you’re not, steal the playbook: plug into meetups, alumni groups, and online founder communities until your environment feels this dense with startup activity.
What the chart really shows
- University of California, Berkeley tops the list with 1,804 VC-backed founders, beating even Stanford and Harvard.
- The top six spots are dominated by US powerhouses: Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, UPenn, MIT, and Cornell.
- Public universities like UT Austin, Michigan, UIUC, UCLA, and Berkeley prove you don’t need an Ivy League brand to raise money.
- Two Israeli schools, Tel Aviv University and Technion, crack the top 10, highlighting how dense local ecosystems can rival US elites.
Real-world positioning angles you can swipe
University of California, Berkeley can pitch itself to prospects as the number one global launchpad for VC-backed founders over the last decade.
Stanford University can reinforce its brand by pairing Silicon Valley proximity with hard numbers on how many of its undergrads become funded founders.
University of Texas at Austin can market itself as a public university that punches in the same weight class as the Ivies for producing VC-backed entrepreneurs.
