If you want to create a venture-backed company, recent data suggests attending University of Chicago, Northwestern University or University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign could boost your odds.
All three Illinois universities are ranked among the top universities for producing venture-backed entrepreneurs nationwide, according to the annual universities report by Pitchbook, a global venture capital database.
Pitchbook has released this report in previous years with similar results--UChicago, Northwestern and UIUC have consistently remained among the top schools for venture-backed entrepreneurs nationwide. However, this year Pitchbook extended their scope of data back to 2006 (instead of 2010) to provide a more robust look at the last decade of startups out of universities. You can take a closer look at the full report here, but we pulled together a roundup of some of the key rankings from this year.
The Illinois universities creating the most venture-backed companies
In MBA programs, Northwestern Kellogg ranks 4 overall, with 409 entrepreneur-alums that have created 381 companies and raised $4.7 billion in capital, including Lazada South East Asia, Westwing Home & Living, Fastly, Kaminario and Cellular Dynamics International. UChicago Booth is ranked just behind Northwestern, at 8, with 363 entrepreneurs that created 330 companies that raised a total of $4 billion in capital.
Among undergraduate programs, UIUC is ranked 10 for VC-backed companies. The school has produced 451 entrepreneurs, who have created 415 companies that raised a combined $5.4 billion in capital raised, including Avant, Affirm, ZocDoc, CRISPR Therapeutics and Otonomy. Northwestern is ranked 29 overall, with 282 entrepreneurs who have created 259 companies raising a combined $3.3 billion.
The Illinois universities producing the most venture-backed female founders
In addition to the breakdown for undergraduate and MBA programs, Pitchbook included data on the programs producing the most women entrepreneurs. For undergraduate programs, Northwestern ranks 16 (with 44 female entrepreneurs that produced 43 companies that raised $197 million in capital total) while UIUC ranks 17 (with 41 female entrepreneurs that created 41 companies that raised $290 in capital total).
On the MBA side, Northwestern ranks 6 (with 47 female founders that created 40 companies that raised $280 million in capital total) and UChicago ranks 7 (with 32 female founders that created 32 companies that raised $596 million in capital total).
The Illinois universities producing the most venture-backed serial entrepreneurs
With the extended data, Pitchbook also ranked universities producing the most serial entrepreneurs: By their definition, an entrepreneur who founded two or more separate companies that received a first round of venture financing between January 1, 2006 to August 15, 2016.
On the undergraduate side, UIUC is ranked 14 with 57 serial entrepreneurs. On the MBA side, UChicago is ranked 5, also with 57 serial founders, and Northwestern is ranked 7 with 50 serial founders.
