It's Labor Day weekend, there's a chill in the air, and football is right around the corner. That means one thing: It's back-to-school season.
With students returning to campus all across the country, venture capital research firm Pitchbook released its annual University Report, which analyzed the top schools for producing VC-backed entrepreneurs.
Pitchbook broke its rankings into several different categories, including the top undergraduate universities that produced the most VC-backed entrepreneurs, the top schools by total capital raised, the top schools for female founders, and the top schools with the most "unicorn" startups.
Locally, the University of Illinois and Northwestern University faired well in some of the rankings, with the University of Chicago also appearing in some of the breakdowns.
Top Undergraduate Universities for VC-Backed Entrepreneurs (by # of total founders)
Pitchbook ranked the top 50 undergraduate universities by number of entrepreneurs getting VC funding that have been enrolled at the school since 2006. The University of Illinois cracked the top 10 with more than 500 of the school's founders getting funded, having raised a total of $6.3 billion. Further down the list, Northwestern came in at No. 30, producing 305 VC-backed entrepreneurs that have raised $4.9 billion.
Top MBA Programs for VC-Backed Entrepreneurs (by # of total founders)
When it comes to top MBA programs that produced the most VC-backed entrepreneurs, Northwestern performed much better. The school came in at No. 5 in the world (No. 4 in the U.S.), with 445 founders getting funding. It did, however, fall one spot down on the list compared to last year. The University of Chicago placed 8th on the MBA-focused list with 405 VC-backed entrepreneurs.
Top Universities for VC-Backed Female Founders (by # of total founders)
Both Northwestern and the University of Illinois made the top 20 in terms of undergrad schools producing VC-backed women founders. Northwestern saw 48 female founders grab funding, while U of I had 45.
You can read the full university report here.
