University of Waterloo breaks Canada into world’s top 10 for entrepreneurship
The University of Waterloo (UW) has taken seventh place in global rankings for university entrepreneurship.
This marks the first time a Canadian institution has scored among the top 10, in a report published by PitchBook, an independent venture capital research firm.
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UW was the top-scoring university outside the United States, and one of only two non-U.S. universities to make the top 10.
Of the publicly funded institutions, UW ranked second only to the University of California, Berkeley.
The report, published Sept. 1, ranks institutions according to the number of undergraduate alumni who have gone on to found venture capital-backed companies.
It draws on an analysis of more than 222,000 VC-backed founders globally.
UW climbed 11 spots year-over-year after finishing 18th in last year's undergraduate rankings.
High-profile companies founded by UW alumni include Instacart, Databricks, ContextLogic Holdings, Faire, and Netskope.
Which universities made the global top 10?
For the 100 best universities for undergraduate alumni entrepreneurs who’ve raised venture capital in the last decade, here are the top 10 worldwide:
| 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 |
Which Canadian universities appear among the top 100 universities worldwide?
Ontario alone accounted for five of Canada’s eight universities in the undergraduate top 100, with the remaining spots going to institutions in Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta.
The table below compares Canadian universities by their national and global rankings, capital raised, and movement in the global rankings since 2025.
| 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 |
*If an “—” is present, this indicates that the university’s global rank has not changed from 2025 to 2026.
Methodology
The report is based on the total number of founders whose companies received a round of venture funding between Jan. 1–Aug. 1, 2026.
For the purposes of this report, venture funding includes Seed, Early Stage VC, Later Stage VC, Angel, Restart Early Stage VC, Restart Later Stage VC, and Restart Angel Rounds.
The 2026 rankings were created using PitchBook’s data for global VC investment, along with educational information on over 222,000 founders.
The report represents the 13th edition of PitchBook’s annual “Top 100 Universities Ranked for Entrepreneurs” ranking.
The annual report ranks universities based on how many startup founders can be traced back to their undergraduate and graduate programs; the top 100 institutions are published for each.
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