Archive · 22 Sep 2026
Indian Engineering Colleges Feature Prominently Among Unicorn Founders
A study looked at where founders of many billion-dollar companies studied.
IIT Delhi appeared most often, followed by Stanford University, IIT Bombay and IIT Madras.
Some founders studied at several universities, so the numbers count education records rather than unique people.
Many founders studied engineering or another technical subject.
Others attended business schools or universities outside India.
The study included companies built both in India and in other countries.
Many founders started their companies after gaining education and work experience.
The data shows common patterns, but it does not prove that attending a particular university causes someone to build a unicorn.
IIT Delhi led the education data with 47 founder records, followed by Stanford University with 37.
The top 12 institutions accounted for 307 of 600 founder education records, while five IITs represented 153 records.
The dataset covered 615 founder-company seats across 305 unicorns, with 336 companies built abroad and 279 in India.
Among overseas unicorns linked to founders who grew up in India, 187 of 205 were based in the United States.
Technical education was the most common background, while about 70% of founders with available age data started companies at 30 or older.
- Who
- Founders linked to the wider Indian diaspora startup ecosystem, including founders of companies such as Flipkart, Zomato, Zscaler, Rubrik and Perplexity.
- What
- Prosus and Dealroom data examined the founders' universities, fields of study, degrees, ages at founding and company locations.
- When
- The article does not specify a publication or data-collection date.
- Where
- The companies were based in India and abroad, especially the United States.
- Why
- The data was compiled to show educational and career patterns among founders connected to Indian-origin unicorn companies.
- Leading institution
- IIT Delhi had 47 founder records, the highest among the listed institutions.
- Top institutions
- The 12 leading institutions accounted for 307 of 600 education records.
- Unicorn coverage
- The dataset included 615 founder-company seats across 305 unicorns.
- Company locations
- 336 companies were built abroad and 279 were built in India.
- Overseas unicorns
- 205 current and former overseas unicorns had at least one founder who grew up in India; 187 were based in the United States.
- Founder-company value
- The overseas companies had approximately $560 billion in founder-share-attributed value under the study's methodology.
- Age at founding
- 268 of 383 records with age estimates involved founders who started companies at age 30 or older.