Six Canadian universities have landed spots in Pitchbook’s recent Top 100 list of post-secondary institutions that produced the most founders at the undergraduate level.
The University of Waterloo topped the list of Canadian universities and ranked 21st globally for the third year in a row. McGill and the University of Toronto (U of T) followed, ranking 23rd and 25th, respectively. The University of British Columbia (UBC) made the top 50, coming in the 43rd spot, while Queen’s University landed at 69th. Western University came in last among Canadian universities at 96th.
In the third spot among Canadian universities, U of T alumni have collectively raised the most capital.
PitchBook ranks universities based on the number of founders it produced and companies that secured a round of venture financing between Jan. 1, 2013 and Aug. 1, 2024. The research platform pulls from its own data on global venture capital investments and the educational information of nearly 167,000 founders. Because there can be multiple founders at a company and founders can attend multiple schools, it is possible that founders and businesses can count towards multiple universities.
In the past decade, Waterloo has educated 562 founders who have collectively raised $20 billion, according to PitchBook (all numbers USD). By capital raised, the top five companies created by its alumni include Databricks ($4.2 billion), Instacart ($2.7 billion), Blend ($1.2 billion), Clearco ($995 million), and Kuaidi Dache ($700 million).
McGill is just behind Waterloo, producing 558 founders that have collectively raised $19.9 billion over the same timeframe. The top five companies founded by the Montréal-based university’s alumni are Indigo ($2 billion), Clearco, Vice Media ($900 million), Sana Biotechnology ($865 million), and Generate: Biomedicines ($693 million).
In the third spot with 531 founders among Canadian universities, U of T alumni have collectively raised the most capital at $26.3 billion. The top five companies include OpenAI ($10.3 billion), Databricks, Cohere ($940 million), Wealthsimple ($876 million), and Amber Group ($630 million).
UBC has 367 alumni who went on to start companies that collectively raised $5.6 billion. The top five are Securonix ($1.2 billion), Koho ($409 million), Shopline ($206 million), Crispr Therapeutics ($160 million), and 17Live ($160 million).
Queen’s has produced 272 founders over the past decade, raising a collective $8.3 billion. The top companies created by its undergrads are Tabby ($1.1 billion), Clearco, Cityblock ($886 million), Apeel ($665 million), and InSilico Medicine ($426 million).
Western’s 194 alumni together have raised $2.4 billion and top companies include Flexiti ($424 million), Turnstone Biologics ($295 million), League ($206 million), HiberCell ($175 million), and Maple ($85 million).
Last year, Waterloo, U of T, and UBC made a list of the top 25 highest-ranked computer science universities globally. In another ranking, accelerators at McGill and U of T were named among the top 10 best worldwide.
Feature image courtesy X.