TAU Places 9th Globally for Entrepreneurs for 3rd Year

Tel Aviv University has maintained its position for the third consecutive year among the top ten universities in the world for producing VC-backed entrepreneurs, and the 1^st outside of the US. The rankings were published by the PitchBook Universities Report 2016-17, which grades universities according to the number of graduates who founded venture-backed startups. At the undergraduate level, TAU came 9^th, with 515 graduates raising $5.1 billion.

The ranking positions TAU together with Ivy League institutions in the top ten, including Stanford (1^st), Harvard (4^th), the University of Pennsylvania (5^th) and Cornell (6^th). TAU ranked ahead of UCLA, Yale and Princeton.

TAU ranked 12^th in the world in the number of MBA graduates who have become entrepreneurs, ahead of the London Business School. In addition, TAU ranked 8^th in the world and the first in Israel in the number of startup exits made ​​by graduates, with a total of $5.2 billion paid out.

TAU President Joseph Klafter said the ranking “is a tribute to Israel in general and Tel Aviv University in particular. The entrepreneurial culture of the Israeli startup nation draws from the reservoir of our talented students and graduates for whom the pursuit of the unknown is a way of life.” Prof. Klafter added that TAU Ventures, the University’s new innovation and entrepreneurship center that is now under development, will provide an expanded platform for startups to flourish.