Now, Non-IIT, IIM Graduates At The Helm Of Indian Unicorns’ Growth Story

Last year, we tried to delve into the academic backgrounds of Indian founders spearheading the country’s most valuable startups while presenting the Indian Unicorn Club Report, 2023. Based on the analysis of 278 unicorn founders, we found that only 42% of such founders were from IITs, with IIT Delhi nurturing the highest number of founders who built billion-dollar enterprises.

At the time, we predicted that the entry of non-IIT or IIM startup founders was good for the growth of the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem. 

Traditionally, prestigious universities signalled a strong academic background, network, and potential for success and thus, investors saw it as a way to mitigate risk. However, they have now started to look beyond conventional academic pedigrees, prioritising founders’ execution capabilities over educational backgrounds.

This shift in investors’ perspective and the rise of non-IIT/IIM founders can be seen in our latest report, Unicorns Of Tomorrow: Decoding India’s Soonicorn Landscape Report, 2024. 

We found that over 60% of Indian soonicorn founders do not hail from IITs, and over 77% have a non-IIM background. The findings hold relevance as 112 Indian startups are on their way to mark their entry into the coveted unicorn club.

According to the analysis of 213 soonicorn founders, over 90% graduated with some form of a degree in an institution in India and the rest graduated abroad.

Within this group, nearly 80% got engineering degrees (BTech and BE), only 3% pursued a degree each in commerce and economics, and more than 5% of the soonicorn founders opted for a degree in science. Less than 2% of these founders opted for BBA.

The fact that over 60% soonicorn founders come from a non-IIT background shows that despite a prestigious university degree being a plus for startup founders, it has not been a deciding factor for investors anymore.

The report also outlines that IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi stood out for producing the highest number of founders on the list. As per the Inc42 report, IIT Bombay produced the most soonicorn founders (21), followed by IIT Delhi (20) and IIT Kharagpur (15). 

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Of the top nine institutes offering an undergrad degree from where these soonicorns founders have graduated, six are IITs. 

The number showcases that these esteemed engineering schools have been at the forefront of nurturing entrepreneurial talent in the country and these institutes are still a destination of choice for future entrepreneurs. 

BITS Pilani, University of Delhi and NIT Karnataka also made it to the top nine with 21 soonicorn founders combined.

Of the 68% soonicorn founders holding postgraduate degrees, 89 founders pursued their degrees in India, 38 in the USA, and two in Canada.

That being said, from the diaspora of the postgrad founders among the soonicorns, 50.7% got an MBA, less than 20% preferred MTech, and 4.5% studied science.

Notably, as many as 32 of these soonicorn founders have graduated from IIMs. But a whooping 104 obtained their postgraduate degrees from other universities. 

The Inc42 report projects that IIM Ahmedabad will produce the highest number of future unicorn founders in India. The number of soonicorn founders from the institute is anticipated to stand at 11. Close on the heels is expected to be IIM Calcutta with nine founders and ISB with seven founders.

In the category, Stanford and Harvard each have produced five Indian soonicorn founders, the same as IIT Bombay.

But, it is still noteworthy that 77% of the soonicorn founders don’t have any IIM credentials. 

These founders have proved the thesis that the Indian startup and investor ecosystem has now grown beyond the traditional IIT-IIM mindset. Investors are increasingly prioritising relevant skills and experience over pedigree, backing well-rounded products and founders who are a combination of passion, skills and experience.

The report also revealed a general lack of gender diversity among soonicorn founders as only 7% of the total soonicorn founders are women.

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