Breaking Down IPO Success: Harvard Business School vs. Harvard College
Comparing The Productivity of Harvard College and Harvard Business School's Startup Ecosystems Since 2019
Since 2019, 29 Harvard-founded companies IPO’d with total valuations exceeding $282B—yes, $282B. I’m frequently asked how this value breaks down across Harvard’s schools—Harvard College and its 12 graduate and professional schools. In this post, we explore the distribution of Harvard’s unicorns since 2019, by school.
Breakdown by School
As highlighted below, since 2019, Harvard Business School has led the way with 18 IPOs worth $130B. Harvard College follows with 7 IPOs totaling $78B. Alumni of both Harvard College and Harvard Business School achieved 3 IPOs worth $64B. Additionally, Harvard Law School alumni contributed 2 IPOs, valued at $5B.
Select IPOs, by School
From companies like Airbnb and Cloudflare to the recent IPO of Klaviyo, Harvard’s startup ecosystem has minted a lot of public companies to be proud of. Below are a few select IPOs founded by alumni of Harvard Business School, Harvard College, and Harvard Law School.
I’d love to hear from you! Know a Harvard founder raising or starting a company? Enjoying Phoenix Fund Research? Interested in chatting? Feel free to share a note: devon@phoenixclub.vc.
Top 10 Private Unicorns, by School
While Harvard Business School led from 2019-2024, which school will lead the next wave of IPOs? Below we look at the top 10 most valuable Harvard-founded startups in private markets, their founders, and their relationship to Harvard.
Of the 10 most valuable Harvard-founded unicorns in private markets, 6 were founded by Harvard College alumni, and the remaining 4 by Harvard Business School alumni. Combined, these 6 College-founded companies are valued at $111.9B, compared to $20.3B for the 4 HBS-founded unicorns. Removing the outlier, Stripe, leaves the remaining 5 Harvard College-founded unicorns with a combined valuation of $41.9B, still ahead of Harvard Business School’s 4 top unicorns at $20.3B.
Question For You!
Where do you think the next generation of Harvard-founded unicorns will emerge? Will they primarily come from Harvard Business School, Harvard College, or maybe another program like the MS/MBA? Do you anticipate these companies will be led by current students and recent grads, or will established alumni take the lead? Excited to hear your thoughts!
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