University of Illinois Reclaims Top 10 Spot in PitchBook’s “Top 100 colleges by startup founders”

The University of Illinois has made a notable return to the top 10 in PitchBook’s annual “Top 100 Colleges by startup founders”, ranking No. 10 this year. This is the first time since 2020 that the university has achieved this status, underscoring the significance of this year’s ranking. Illinois is one of four public universities in the top 10.

Rankings are based on data collected from tallying the number of alumni entrepreneurs who have raised capital in the last decade, with an analysis of nearly 167,000 venture capitalist-backed founders.

Additional rankings for the university include

• • • • No. 4 in undergraduate alumni founders
      • No. 5 in graduate alumni founders
      • No. 18 in female founders

Illinois alumni-founder companies have raised $21.1 billion in undergraduate startup capital and $15.9 billion in graduate capital through ventures like Generate, GRAIL, Farmers Business Network, Heyday and Plus.

The university’s strong entrepreneurial spirit is reflected in the notable EnterpriseWorks startup graduates Ascent Integrated Tech and DeepWalk.

Ascent is dedicated to improving first responders’ and warfighters’ safety and efficiency through technology that enhances situational awareness. DeepWalk Research, through its scanning software, helps improve pedestrian infrastructure to ensure accessibility to everyone. 

For more information and the complete list, visit the PitchBook website.