Tel Aviv University ranks third worldwide for master's graduates who founded US unicorns - study

Tel Aviv University ranked third among universities outside the United States for producing research master's degree graduates who founded unicorn companies. This is according to a study by Prof. Ilya Straboliev of Stanford University, who researches venture capital and innovation. Twelve founders of deep tech unicorns completed their research master's degrees at Tel Aviv University, placing it behind only the University of Cambridge (19 founders) and the University of Oxford (16 founders).

Among Tel Aviv University's unicorn founders is Yuval Tal, founder of Pioneer, who holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a master's degree in biomedical engineering from the university.

Straboliev's study identified 347 research master's degree graduates across 206 universities outside the US who went on to found 270 unicorn companies. Three Israeli institutions ranked among the top ten worldwide in the study: Tel Aviv University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Technion. The Hebrew University produced 8 unicorn founders and the Technion 7, while Bar-Ilan University appeared further down the list with 4 founders.

Prof. Moshe Zviran, head of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Division at Tel Aviv University, said the study "is unique in its focus on research master's degree holders who founded Deep Tech-based unicorns and adds another layer to Tel Aviv University's leading position in the global entrepreneurial ecosystem." He said the findings place the university "in a small group of leading academic institutions in the world" and reflect its efforts to foster entrepreneurship alongside research and teaching.

Prof. Noam Eliaz, dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Tel Aviv University, said the ranking reflects graduates who "not only join the forefront of global innovation - they create it," describing it as evidence of "the unique connection between research excellence and an entrepreneurial spirit and the ability to transform deep knowledge into technologies."