Berkeley Tops PitchBook for Undergrad Founders 4th Straight Year: 2,155 VC-Backed Startups
jfiance · x · 2026-09-03
Berkeley ranks #1 for VC-backed startups founded by undergraduate alumni for the fourth year in a row, with 2,380 undergrads in PitchBook's dataset founding 2,155 venture-backed companies.
The House Fund founder Jeremy Fiance recounts building the ecosystem from scratch: when he arrived there were few startup clubs, so student founders created five student-run startup organizations that persist today, and his fund has since backed 20+ such groups with funding, mentorship and connections. He credits SCET as the most impactful top-down program.
His thesis: great startup ecosystems aren't built by a single program but by students constructing, strengthening and handing down infrastructure across generations.
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