VC Firms Backing The Most Harvard-Founded Unicorns
Four firms have captured $100B+ from Harvard-founded unicorns!
Phoenix is a pre/seed stage venture capital firm investing in Harvard- and HBS-founded startups. Subscribe for more data and research on the Harvard/HBS startup ecosystem.
Since 2019, 29 Harvard-founded startups have gone public, with a combined value at the time of IPO exceeding $282B. Additionally, 51 more unicorns remain in private markets! In this post, we explore the top 10 early-stage venture capital firms who backed the most Harvard-founded unicorns at the earliest stages, from pre-seed to Series A.
Methodology: Phoenix Fund Research analyzed the pre-seed to Series A investors in 80 Harvard-founded unicorns, including 29 companies that have IPO’d since 2019 and 51 that remain privately held. For valuation figures, we used the valuation at IPO for public companies and the valuation at the latest financing round for private unicorns.
Firms with the Most Harvard-Founded Unicorns
SV Angel tops the list with 13 unicorns, followed by Y Combinator with 9 and Andreessen Horowitz with 8. Other firms represented include Elad Gil, Box Group, Founder Collective, Liquid 2 Ventures, General Catalyst, NEA, and Sequoia.
SV Angel (13): Stripe, Airbnb, Rippling, Asana, Oscar Health, Apollo.io, Nextdoor, YipitData, Zipline, Applied Intuition, Mark43, Shift Technologies, Zip
YC (9): Stripe, Airbnb, Apollo.io, Human Interest, Modern Treasury, Zip, Rippling, CoinTracker, Scribd
Andreessen Horowitz (8): Stripe, Asana, Applied Intuition, Enjoy, Loft, Shield AI, Everlaw, Anyscale
Firms with the Greatest Value Captured by Harvard-Founded Startups
SV Angel ranks first with a total of $164.2B in value captured, followed by Elad Gil at $141.5B and Y Combinator at $139.2B. Four firms have captured over $100B in value from Harvard-founded startups, while six firms have captured over $50B.
SV Angel ($164B): Stripe, Airbnb, Rippling, Asana, Oscar Health, Apollo.io, Nextdoor, YipitData, Zipline, Applied Intuition, Mark43, Shift Technologies, Zip
Elad Gil ($142B): Stripe, Airbnb, Rippling, Cognition AI, Perplexity AI, Applied Intuition
YC ($139B): Stripe, Airbnb, Apollo.io, Human Interest, Modern Treasury, Zip, Rippling, CoinTracker, Scribd
Harvard-Founded Unicorns by Firm (Sorted by Value Captured)
SV Angel: 13 unicorns ($164B) — Stripe, Airbnb, Rippling, Asana, Oscar Health, Apollo.io, Nextdoor, YipitData, Zipline, Applied Intuition, Mark43, Shift Technologies, Zip
Elad Gil: 6 unicorns ($142B) — Stripe, Airbnb, Rippling, Cognition AI, Perplexity AI, Applied Intuition
YC: 9 unicorns ($139B) — Stripe, Airbnb, Apollo.io, Human Interest, Modern Treasury, Zip, Rippling, CoinTracker, Scribd
Sequoia: 3 unicorns ($121B) — Airbnb, Stripe, Zipline
Andreessen Horowitz: 8 unicorns ($91B) — Stripe, Asana, Applied Intuition, Enjoy, Loft, Shield AI, Everlaw, Anyscale
Founder Collective: 5 unicorns ($69B) — Coupang, ThredUp, Whoop, Shield AI, Omada Health
Box Group: 6 unicorns ($27B) — Ramp, Ro, ID.me, Chief, Blue Apron, Pomelo Care, Oscar Health
Liquid 2 Ventures: 5 unicorns ($24B) — Rippling, Applied Intuition, Modern Treasury, Apollo.io, Human Interest
General Catalyst: 5 unicorns ($18B) — Oscar, Ro, CoinTracker, Chief, Mark43
NEA: 5 unicorns ($10B) — Perplexity, Anyscale, Omada Health, 23andMe, FiscalNote
please like, comment, and share! Know a Harvard student or alum starting a company or raising a round? Share a note: devon@phoenixclub.vc
Previous Posts
About Phoenix Fund
We invest in a diversified portfolio of early-stage Harvard startups, harnessing the power of the Harvard ecosystem to provide outsized value through collaboration
We host events, treks, and happy hours to build community among Harvard founders, funders, students, & alumni (subscribe to stay up-to-date)
We research Harvard’s startup and venture ecosystem, bringing the latest updates, insights, and stories directly to your inbox
Best,
Phoenix Fund