2025 Pitchbook Cites UC Alums Launching the Most Startups
Every UC campus has accelerators and incubators and with this manpower it’s no wonder that University of California alums have started more venture-backed companies than alumni of any other university campuses, according to the 2025 Pitchbook.
The PitchBook rankings, released on September 15, placed six UC campuses — Berkeley, UCLA, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Davis, and Irvine — among the world’s top 100 universities for undergraduate alumni who started venture-backed businesses.
Berkeley claimed the No. 1 spot for the third year in a row, beating out Stanford, Harvard and MIT.
Berkeley scored in the top position in three categories:
- Number of venture-backed startups founded by undergraduate alumni (1,650).
- Number of founders (1,804) going on to found companies.
- The largest number of female graduate founders.
“Our comprehensive support for innovation and entrepreneurship is just one aspect of how we consistently challenge the status quo, and a primary reason why Berkeley is, and will remain, one of society’s greatest assets.”
— Chancellor Rich Lyons
Given UC’s track record for launching companies and founders, it should then come as no surprise that its alumni have created many of America’s recognizable brands, from Apple to Intel to GoPro to The Honest Company to Warby Parker to Google Earth.
Pitchbook 2025 Top 100
Pitchbook 2025 Top Universities with Alumni Founders
Pitchbook 2025 Top Universities with Female Founders
PitchBook is a data provider for equity markets, including undergraduate, graduate, MBA and female founders of venture-backed businesses. For the full listing of the Top 100 visit Pitchbook.
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