UI entrepreneurs receive highest amount of venture funding in state

The University was recently ranked the top public university in the state and 12th worldwide to receive the most venture capital funding for starting businesses. The report was conducted by PitchBook, a venture capital database that reviews business data of companies, investors, partners and professional service providers. 

“To get anywhere, you need a really good idea or any amount of funding,” Dustin Lee, a 2014 graduate in Business, said. 

Over the past five years, 146 entrepreneurs, forming 131 companies, have received over $1 billion in venture funding. 

“It depends on your goals,” Lee said. “That’s if you get investors and what you are creating has to be legitimate of what people want. Everyone wants the money they can get. I subscribe to PitchBook and it’s good to see U of I doing so well in terms of their funding and startups.” 

Toheeb Okenla, sophomore in Business,  also feels optimistic about the recent studies. 

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“I think Illinois placing first shows the importance that the school is placing on entrepreneurship,” Okenla said. 

The following universities ranked in the top five for funding: Stanford University, University of California- Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Technology and Harvard University.  

John Gabbert, current CEO of PitchBook, stressed in a statement on the company’s website the increasingly important role PitchBook plays in both domestic and international economies.  

“We are confident that our data, tools and analyses will provide a competitive advantage and result in better, more informed decision making,” Gabbert said.  

Andrew can be reached at [email protected]