Four Canadian universities make 2021 Pitchbook list of top 50 colleges for founders
Financial data and software company Pitchbook named four Canadian universities in its 2021 list of the top 50 colleges for founders.
University of Toronto (U of T), McGill University, and University of British Columbia (UBC) all improved their rankings from the 2020 list, with University of Waterloo (U of W) holding the same rank from last year.
Pitchbook bases its 2021 university rankings on the number of founders whose companies received a first round of venture funding between January 1, 2006 and October 31, 2021.
The data on entrepreneurs, companies, and capital raised comes from the PitchBook platform, and information about founders’ educational background is retrieved from publicly available and primary sources.
Pitchbook described U of T as one of its “fastest risers” as the institution rose up six places from the previous year. In 2020, U of T ranked in the 33rd place and climbed to 27 in 2021. U of T currently has a founder count of 464, with 417 companies that have raised $17.2 billion.
To bolster its entrepreneurial programs, the university appointed former NEXT Canada senior director Jon French in May 2020 as the director for U of T Entrepreneurship.
RELATED: Jon French departs NEXT Canada to take entrepreneurship role at University of Toronto
U of W maintained its position from last year, ranking 22nd in Pitchbook’s top 50 list. The organization reported that it currently has 530 founders, 424 companies and raised $20.1 billion in funding.
Just seven spots below is McGill University, listed in the 29th place. The Montréal institution placed one spot higher than last year, when it ranked 30th. Pitchbook’s data reports that McGill University is home to 457 founders, 424 companies, that have raised $15.3 billion in capital.
UBC climbed to 47th place this year, three spots up from the bottom of the top 50 where it placed in 2020. The school has a founder count of 310, with 263 companies that have $3.7 billion raised to date.
The schools that hold the top three positions in the Pitchbook list are Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard University, respectively.