UC outshines Ivy League schools graduating billion-dollar unicorn founders

A new study found that UC left prestigious rivals such as Yale, Harvard and MIT behind with its track record of producing successful unicorn-launching alums, as reported by Entrepreneur magazine.

The term unicorn is given to companies valued at more than $1 billion that are not publicly traded. As of January 2024, there are more than 1,300 globally active unicorns, as reported by PitchBook.com.

A business professor at Stanford, Ilya Strebulaev, recently conducted a report ranking the top universities according to the percentage of unicorns associated with them.

According to Strebulaev’s report, founders of a U.S. startup who studied or worked at UC are 3.3 times more likely to achieve unicorn status than average.

The report lists the odds ratio of schools shadowing UC in producing a unicorn:

•        UC — 3.3 times more likely
•        Yale and Vanderbilt University tied — 2.0
•        Stanford University — 1.6
•        University of California, Berkeley — 1.5

The startup culture is unique, requiring a blend of ingenuity and business acumen to identify market opportunities along with a robust group of mentors and financiers for support. 

“This research study only reaffirms what the University of Cincinnati has long known to be true: That UC is a special place that prepares remarkably special people to compete at the highest level," Ryan Hays, UC executive vice president and chief innovation and strategy officer, said. "There’s a reason we named our strategic direction Next Lives Here. It perfectly captures the forward-leaning, innovation-driven, grit-fueled, next-minded boldness that comes with being a Bearcat.”

Creating a business as prosperous as these demands immense dedication, hard work, intelligence and a dash of luck. Yet, as Strebulaev’s report illustrates, the success rate of those attending UC undoubtedly enhances one’s odds of unicorn status.

The UC 1819 Innovation Hub, Technology Transfer Office and Venture Lab pre-accelerator program forge an entrepreneurial ecosystem catalyzing ideas from conception to market success. With abundant resources and creative support, tomorrow's unicorns can thrive in their local innovation backyard, the Cincinnati Innovation District.

These 11 Bearcat unicorns share a common origin — they all attended the UC where they were equipped with an entrepreneurial blueprint that propelled them on a trajectory of founding billion-dollar startups.

Featured image at top: University of Cincinnati campus. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand