Waterloo Reaches The Global Top Tier For Entrepreneurship
The University of Waterloo (UW) has secured seventh place in a global ranking of universities producing successful entrepreneurs.
The achievement marks the first time a Canadian university has entered the global top 10 in PitchBook’s annual university entrepreneurship ranking. PitchBook is an independent research firm that tracks venture capital activity.
UW was also the highest-ranked university outside the United States. It was one of only two universities outside the US to appear in the global top 10.
Among publicly funded universities, UW ranked second, behind the University of California, Berkeley.
The report, released on September 1, ranks universities based on the number of undergraduate alumni who have founded companies that received venture capital funding.
The research examined data from more than 222,000 venture-backed founders around the world. UW moved up 11 places compared with last year, when it ranked 18th in the undergraduate category.
Several well-known companies have been founded by UW alumni, including Instacart, Databricks, ContextLogic Holdings, Faire, and Netskope.
Global Universities Leading In Entrepreneurship
PitchBook’s ranking covers the top 100 universities whose undergraduate alumni have founded companies that raised venture capital during the past decade.
The top 10 institutions are:
| Rank | University | Founder Count |
| 1 | University of California, Berkeley | 2,380 |
| 2 | Stanford University | 1,997 |
| 3 | Harvard University | 1,697 |
| 4 | Cornell University | 1,541 |
| 5 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 1,525 |
| 6 | University of Pennsylvania | 1,466 |
| 7 | University of Waterloo | 1,303 |
| 8 | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor | 1,085 |
| 9 | Tel Aviv University | 1,084 |
| 10 | University of Texas at Austin | 1,036 |
UW’s seventh-place position puts it ahead of several major US institutions and makes it the leading non-US university in the ranking.
Canadian Universities In The Global Ranking
Canada had eight universities among the global top 100. Ontario accounted for five of these institutions, while the remaining universities were located in Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta.
The University of Waterloo led the Canadian group, followed by the University of Toronto and McGill University.
| National Rank | University | Founder Count | Global Rank | Global Rank Shift (YoY) |
| 1 | University of Waterloo | 1,303 | 7 | +11 |
| 2 | University of Toronto | 808 | 17 | — |
| 3 | McGill University | 721 | 23 | -1 |
| 4 | Western University | 548 | 36 | +4 |
| 5 | University of British Columbia | 472 | 43 | +1 |
| 6 | Queen’s University | 319 | 78 | — |
| 7 | University of Calgary | 249 | 96 | +4 |
| 8 | York University | 248 | 98 | +2 |
Note: A “—” means the university’s global ranking remained unchanged from 2025 to 2026.
The results highlight the growing presence of Canadian universities in the global startup and entrepreneurship sector. Waterloo’s strong position also reflects the university’s connection to technology companies and venture-backed businesses.
How Was The Ranking Compiled?
The ranking uses data on founders whose companies received a venture capital funding round between January 1 and August 1, 2026.
PitchBook included several types of venture funding in its analysis, including Seed, Early Stage VC, Later Stage VC, Angel, Restart Early Stage VC, Restart Later Stage VC, and Restart Angel rounds.
The 2026 ranking combines PitchBook’s global venture capital data with education information covering more than 222,000 founders.
This is the 13th edition of PitchBook’s annual ‘Top 100 Universities Ranked for Entrepreneurs’ report.
The ranking looks at the number of startup founders connected to a university through their undergraduate or graduate education. The 100 highest-ranked institutions are then included in the annual global list.
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