Harvard ranks high in most metrics related to academic prestige and alumni success. So, it’s not surprising that the 389-year-old institution does pretty well in the startup game as well.
Graduates and famous dropouts have launched companies that are collectively valued in the trillions today. And alongside Stanford and MIT, Harvard regularly ranks in the top three schools for graduating founders of funded startups.
But how is it measuring up lately?
With graduation season upon us, and Harvard garnering headlines in its escalating battles with the Trump administration, we thought it would be timely to look at the school’s recent record in launching funded founders and CEOs. This includes a look at students’ roles in founding and leading unicorns, launching new funded startups, and taking companies to exit.
Still going strong
First, we looked at Harvard attendees’ role in founding some of today’s most valuable private, venture-backed companies. To illustrate, we put together a list of 12 of the most heavily funded startups with a Harvard-affiliated founder.
Notably, the company at the top of our list — Stripe — was co-founded by John Collision, who studied at Harvard, but chose building a startup over completing a degree. He joins a famous league of Harvard dropouts-turned-billionaire-founders, including Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.
Another heavyweight in the news this week is human resources software provider Rippling, which just raised $450 million at a $16.8 billion valuation. Co-founder and CEO Parker Conrad is a Harvard grad.
The other mega-funding recipient on our list — Medicare benefits provider Devoted Health — counts Harvard grads and brothers Ed Park and Todd Park as co-founders. Ed Park also serves as CEO.
$200B+ in funding to Harvard-affiliated startups
Private, venture-backed companies founded by former Harvard students have also raised copious sums over the years.
Per Crunchbase data, there are currently over 1,900 such companies that have raised over $1 million in equity investment. To date, those companies have collectively pulled in over $200 billion in equity funding over the years.1
Much of that funding is rather recent. Per Crunchbase data, companies with a Harvard-affiliated founder or co-founder have raised over $54 billion in the past year. However, this is only if one includes nearly $47 billion for OpenAI, which counts Greg Brockman — who attended Harvard but later transferred to MIT — as co-founder and current CEO.
Harvard is a CEO factory too
Harvard is also pretty good at churning out future CEOs of high-valuation venture-backed companies.
Per Crunchbase data, there are 158 Harvard alumni serving as CEOs of current unicorns, emerging unicorns or exited unicorns. Many of them are also founders or co-founders of the companies they lead.
Many of the best-known names on the list are onetime unicorns that are now public. This includes several that made their market debuts several years ago, such as Lyft, Grab, Cloudflare and Moderna.
In prior surveys, we’ve found that Harvard Business School, in particular, has a strong track record for graduating future CEOs. That’s the alma mater of many unicorn CEOs as well. (Although it’s tempting as an aside to note that the success of OpenAI, Stripe, Microsoft and Meta, gives credence to the notion that perhaps people who matriculate at Harvard but later leave are the most fundable entrepreneurs.)
The path ahead
Whether Harvard continues on its well-worn path of serving as a launchpad for startup founders and leaders, of course, remains to be seen. In coming days, we’ll also be taking a look at how the school compares to other well-regarded institutions for matriculating future funded founders. Stay tuned.
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Illustration: Dom Guzman
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