Which colleges are churning out founders?

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The Daily Pitch: VC

September 3, 2024

The Daily Pitch is powered by PitchBook’s industry-defining research and best-in-class data

In today's Daily Pitch, you'll find:

PitchBook's university rankings are back for 2024. Find out which colleges count the largest number of startup founders among their alumni.

Our latest country snapshot dives into the state of public and private markets in Germany

Our Q2 2024 Global League Tables rank the top investors, advisers and more across PE and VC

Today's Top Stories

PitchBook Universities: Top 100 colleges ranked by startup founders

PitchBook's annual university rankings are back for 2024. Our list compares schools by tallying up the number of alumni entrepreneurs who have raised venture capital since 2013.

UC Berkeley is No. 1 overall in the undergraduate rankings, moving past Stanford, last year's top school.

For the graduate rankings, Stanford took the top spot.

Harvard's MBA program is far and away the top school for founders with business degrees—its 1,881-alumni founder count is 58% more than No. 2 Stanford.

see the rankings

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A high bar for exits hits biopharma startups

Biopharma remains a strong VC sector, showing resilience through funding rounds. But overall exit value has sharply declined quarter-over-quarter—from $10 billion in Q1 2024 to less than half that amount in Q2, according to our recent Emerging Tech Research.

Only biopharma companies with robust clinical data are succeeding in IPOs, leaving the majority of startups facing significant barriers to exit. This suggests many—particularly those focusing on gene editing, targeted cancer treatment and AI drug discovery platforms—may need to continue their development independently rather than seeking acquisition by Big Pharma.

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AI eats up over 40% of US VC deal value as Big Tech bucks roll in

(Say-Cheese/Getty Images)

The AI and machine learning sector accounts for more than 40% of all US VC deal value, according to the latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor. But this masks a more challenging VC environment overall, PitchBook analyst Kyle Stanford says.

"There's caution in the market," he said. "These deals aren't coming from VC firms."

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Ranking the most active investors of Q2

The latest edition of our Global League Tables is now available for Q2 2024, spanning the spectrum of private market activity. The interactive tables rank everything from the busiest PE investors by region to the most active law firms in VC. Who set the pace?

see the rankings

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Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

6

VC valuations

1785

People

522

Companies

25

Funds

See what our data software can do

The Daily Benchmark:
2017 Vintage Global Secondaries Funds

Median IRR

17.80%

Top Quartile IRR

20.56%

0.62x

Median DPI

Select top performers

Timber Bay Fund I

Standard Life Capital Secondary Opportunities Fund III

Northleaf Secondary Partners II

*IRR: net of fees

16 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

VC Deals

Validus, a Singapore-based SME digital lending platform, raised $50 million from HSBC’s ASEAN Growth Fund.

IDA, a Hong Kong-based digital asset platform, secured a $6-million seed round led by CMCC Global.

Nutrabay, a direct-to-consumer sports nutrition retailer, secured $5 million in Series A led by RPSG Capital Ventures.

PE Deals

HIG and CapVest are both to set to make a bid for UK pharmacy wholesaler AAH Pharmaceuticals, the Financial Times reported.

Blackstone is in the closing stages of a £13 billion deal for AirTrunk, an Australian data center operator, Bloomberg reported.

TA Associates acquired a majority stake in Dubai-based school operator AlephYa Education.

Exits & IPOs

Oakley Capital agreed to exit Ocean Technologies Group, a Norwegian educational software developer for the maritime industry, to Lloyd’s Register.

Gulf Capital sold its stake in Middle East Glass, a Cairo-based glass container manufacturer, to MENA Glass.

Tikehau Capital sold Preligens, a French developer of an AI-driven geo-spatial monitoring system, to Safran for €220 million. The deal generated a 2.4x cash multiple and 30.4% gross IRR.

Fundraising

Sozo Ventures, a California-based VC firm, is targeting $500 million for its latest vehicle, Sozo Ventures IV.

Chart of the Day

Source: Q2 2024 US VC Valuations Report

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