Israeli universities global leaders in producing successful entrepreneurs

Tel Aviv University is ranked 8th worldwide for producing entrepreneurs, the only non-American university in the top 10.

By EYTAN HALON
Updated: SEPTEMBER 3, 2018 04:57
Tel Aviv University (photo credit: TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY)
Tel Aviv University
(photo credit: TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY)
Three Israeli universities are among world leaders in producing successful and serial entrepreneurs, a new study shows, with Tel Aviv University ranked eighth globally.
The annual study, carried out by PitchBook, revealed that undergraduate programs at Tel Aviv University, Haifa’s Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Jerusalem’s Hebrew University are all ranked in the top 35 universities worldwide for producing graduate entrepreneurs who have subsequently raised a round of venture capital funding.
Tel Aviv University, up one place from its 2017 ranking and the only non-American university in the top 10, has produced 640 entrepreneurs and 531 companies since that have raised $7.91 billion in venture capital funding since 2006.
Tel Aviv University’s MBA programs are ranked 13th worldwide for producing entrepreneurs, with 233 entrepreneurs across 221 companies raising $3.78 billion in funding.
Stanford University, based in California, leads the world rankings, with 1,178 graduates becoming entrepreneurs, establishing 1,015 businesses and raising nearly $29 billion. Stanford is followed by University of California, Berkeley, in second place and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in third place. Harvard University leads the MBA world rankings.
Haifa’s Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, a public research university, remains in 14th position globally, having produced 468 entrepreneurs and 395 companies that have raised $7.2 billion.
Hebrew University, based in Jerusalem, has maintained its position at 35th globally, having produced 304 entrepreneurs and 268 companies. Hebrew University graduate entrepreneurs have raised $4.31 billion.
Tel Aviv University is also ranked 9th globally for producing serial founders, entrepreneurs who have founded two or more companies that have received at least one round of venture financing.
Leading companies established by Tel Aviv University graduates, according to the amount of capital raised, include Houzz, Signifyd, BlueVine, Trax Image Recognition and Next Insurance.
Houzz, founded by graduates Adi Tatarko and Alon Cohen in 2009, is a California-based online architecture and home improvement platform that has more than 40 million monthly users and employs more than 1,500 workers.
In April, seeking to boost investment in start-ups founded by students and alumni, Tel Aviv University launched Tau Ventures, the first academic-based venture capital fund in Israel.
“This is a new model that has been implanted for the first time in Israel, and it sets the university in line with the leading universities in the world,” Tel Aviv University president Prof. Josef Klafter said at the fund’s launch.
The establishment of the fund brings Tel Aviv University in line with leading university-backed and university-affiliated venture capital funds in the United States, including StartX at Stanford University, Berkeley Ventures at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Experiment Fund at Harvard University.