Tel Aviv University (TAU) was ranked fifth in the world in the 2021 ranking of Startup Genome, a world-leading innovation policy advisory and research firm. The prestigious ranking reflects the involvement of alumni of the world’s leading universities in entrepreneurship, and in the establishment of scaleup companies (companies that have advanced beyond the startup stage and those worth is estimated at $50m or more).

The top four institutions in the ranking are leading American universities: Stanford, MIT, UC Berkeley, and Harvard, with TAU coming right after. TAU is the only non-American university in the ranking’s top ten, which also include Cornell, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University. According to the ranking, about 1,300 TAU alumni have founded active companies in a vast range of areas over the last decades, and about 40 of these have attained the status of scaleup companies.

This ranking joins the Pitchbook rankings which annually place TAU among the top 10 institutions producing venture capital-backed entrepreneurs. Here too TAU is the only non-American university ranked in the top ten.

“This is a very significant achievement for both TAU and the state of Israel,” says Professor Moshe Zviran, Dean of the Coller School of Management and Chief Entrepreneurship and Innovation Officer at TAU. “The Startup Genome ranking is a standard of entrepreneurial excellence of the highest level in the world. Israel in general, and TAU as its leading entrepreneurial university, form fertile ground for uniquely creative young entrepreneurs who establish independent companies and hold key positions in the world’s leading corporations. The rich toolbox which our students acquire during their studies serves them well when they enter the job market. We are proud of our alumni and students for this achievement and will continue to fortify TAU’s position in the top echelons of global entrepreneurship.”