University of Waterloo ranks amongst the world’s best at producing founders and entrepreneurs

The University of Waterloo (UW) has some famous alumni, including successful Shark Kevin O’Leary, acclaimed poet Rupi Kaur, and Steve “Red Green” Smith, but it turns out the list of successful people from UW runs even longer than expected.

A recent ranking from research company Pitchbook had UW at the top of the podium amongst Canadian post-secondary institutions at generating successful entrepreneurs with undergraduate degrees.

In total, the university has produced more than 560 founders, nearly 480 companies and about $27 billion raised in capital.

UW also ranks second in Canada for the number of female founders they’ve produced, with 184 women from the school going on to create successful companies that generated more than $5.5 billion.

Part of what has made them so successful at making people successful is their “Velocity” program, an incubator program that puts students in real-world situations.

According to John Dick, a senior director with Velocity, the university has “created a powerful formula to develop the mindset to succeed as a founder”.

Other Canadian universities that rank in the top 50 of the startup founder list include the University of Toronto, McGill University, and the University of British Columbia.