Where Unicorns Are Born

For 100 years, the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology has been the engine of ingenuity and entrepreneurship for Israel, the Startup Nation. “This study from Stanford University proves there is some special sauce in the Technion that distinguishes it from other universities,” said Michael Waxman-Lenz, chief executive officer of the American Technion Society. New research from the Stanford Graduate School of Business shows that the Technion has a 25 times higher chance than any other university outside the United States to produce a U.S. unicorn. A unicorn is a startup valued at more than $1 billion that is privately owned and not listed on a share market.

Tsinghua University (China) and Reichman University (a private university in Israel) are the next leading universities, with an 11.3 times higher chance. Three other Israeli public universities followed.

“The Technion is able to activate people like no other institution of higher education,” said Waxman-Lenz. “And because our mission is to use science to strengthen Israel and better the world, the Technion gives Israel an extraordinary edge.”

The research was led by Ilya A. Strebulaev, the David S. Lobel Professor of Private Equity, and conducted with Stanford’s Venture Capital Initiative team. Prof. Strebulaev noted that only non-U.S. universities with at least 10 unique unicorns in the U.S. were studied. There are 17 such universities. Five of them hail from Israel.