UC Berkeley Ranks #1 in Companies Founded by Undergraduate Alums

At UC Berkeley's Bakar BioEnginuity Hub, researchers from Catena Biosciences are developing protein technology invented in laboratories led by UC Berkeley professors Jennifer Doudna and Matt Francis.

UC Berkeley undergraduate founders have created more companies than undergraduate founders from any other university in the world, according to PitchBook, a data provider for private and public equity markets.

Pitchbook annually ranks the world’s best universities for producing startup founders, and their 2023 data show that Berkeley undergraduate alumni have created the most new companies. Berkeley clocked in with eight more companies than Stanford — 1,305 companies versus 1,297. Last year, PitchBook data showed Berkeley trailing Stanford by five companies.

Taking first place in the number of companies “is not surprising,” said Berkeley Chief Innovation and Entrepreneurship Officer Rich Lyons, citing the school’s core values and tradition in cultivating entrepreneurs.

Rounding out PitchBook’s overall rankings in the Top 5 after Berkeley and Stanford were Harvard University with 1,205 undergraduate founders, University of Pennsylvania (1,083), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1,079) and Cornell University (856). To read more about this accomplishment from Cal undergrads, you can visit the news release here.