Entrepreneurial alumni thrust UCalgary into PitchBook’s Top 100

For the first time, the University of Calgary has made PitchBook’s annual Top 100 list of universities with alumni entrepreneurs who have raised venture capital over the last decade.

Since 2014, UCalgary has produced 189 founders with an undergraduate degree who have raised a collective $3.4 billion in capital. The top five UCalgary alumni companies for amount of capital raised, and spanning tech, financial, energy and agriculture sectors are:

1. Dapper Labs
2. Eavor
3. Neo Financial
4. Pairwise
5. Expa

UCalgary was one of eight Canadian universities to make the global list, moving up 38 places from 2024. This success follows another year as a top Canadian startup creator with 105 research-based startups, more than any other university in Canada over the last six years.

“UCalgary ranking in the PitchBook Top 100 list is an important indicator of success in our research and innovation implementation plan,” says Dr. William Ghali, vice-president (research). “Our innovation ecosystem provides robust supports for our research and alumni community, and we look forward to continued impact and success.”

PitchBook’s annual university rankings compare schools by tallying the number of alumni entrepreneurs who have raised venture capital in the last decade. The rankings are powered by PitchBook data and are based on an analysis of more than 173,000 VC-backed founders.