Graduates from Trinity College Dublin founded more venture-backed companies than graduates from any other European university over the last 13 years.
Trinity sits at number 46 in the global rankings for producing venture-backed entrepreneurs from its undergraduate programmes, according to PitchBook’s recently published Universities Report.
Trinity is the only European university within the Top 50, making this the fourth year in a row that Trinity has been ranked first in Europe by the private equity and venture-focused research firm. Trinity’s ranking at 46 is up two places from last year.
Between the years of 2006 and 2018 – the period over which PitchBook conducted its latest independent analyses – Trinity alumni produced 232 entrepreneurs, formed 212 venture-backed companies, and raised capital of approximately US $3.26 billion.
The 232 entrepreneurs noted in this year’s report represent an increase from the 216 in last year’s report (and from the 192 in 2016); the company count of 212 is up from 201 in 2017 (180 in 2016) and the $3.26 billion in capital raised is up from the $2.372 billion in 2017.
Some Trinity graduates who are leading companies reflected in the PitchBook data include Intercom founders Eoghan McCabe and Ciaran Lee. Their customer engagement platform recently achieved unicorn status when it was valued at over $1.275 billion in its recent $125 million investment round. Another success story is Dr Nora Khaldi, founder of Nuritas, which raised €20m in March for its artificial intelligence and genomics platform that discovers and unlocks natural Bioactive Peptides with extraordinary health benefits.
Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, Chief Innovation & Enterprise Officer, Trinity said: “Trinity has placed innovation and entrepreneurship at the heart of its strategy – from the development of plans for a new innovation campus at Grand Canal Quay, to the establishment of a University Bridge venture fund to enable investment in new start-up companies, to the creation of Tangent – Trinity’s Ideas Workspace to enable student and graduate entrepreneurship. The news today that Trinity is again Europe’s leading university for graduate entrepreneurship further supports these ambitions and our role as a global leader in enabling the best students to become the best entrepreneurs.”
