AUSTIN, Texas — As a university that elevates entrepreneurship and innovation as its focus, being ranked among the best colleges for success in that area is rewarding. The University of Texas at Austin took the No. 9 spot as one of the leading universities in the world to produce entrepreneurs. PitchBook Data, a research and technology organization that tracks venture capital, private equity and merger and acquisition transactions, handled the rankings.

PitchBook Data’s annual top 100 colleges ranked by startup founders comes down to a comparison between universities and their alumni entrepreneurs, calculating how many have found companies backed by venture capital, an investment to expand business. “The undergraduate and graduate rankings rely on PitchBook data and are based on the number of founders whose companies received a first round of venture funding between Jan. 1, 2012, and Oct. 21, 2022. It also analyzed educational data on more than 144,000 founders,” according to UT News.

There are several programs, such as an intellectual hub for research and enterprise, the university founded to support tech commercialization, educate student entrepreneurs and encourage local startup community engagement. Those programs include the following:

There are even undergraduate and graduate-specific programs for entrepreneurship and innovation.

The university also started Discovery to Impact to lead its research commercialization efforts. A UT News article reads, “The unit was recently selected by the National Science Foundation to lead a regional, four-state training program for researchers seeking to move their discoveries from the lab to the market.”

PitchBook Data’s ranking emphasizes the university’s dedication to nurturing their students’ entrepreneurial spirits. This recognition follows many other impressive titles awarded to UT Austin, like placing No. 38 among national public and private universities in the most recent undergraduate rankings by U.S. News & World Report. U.S. News also ranked UT Austin at No. 43 overall in the latest Best Global Universities rankings and the No. 1 university in Texas.