Who leads, by five measures

Five indicators for startups founded 2014 to 2024 show who leads in startups founded, relative to size, in funding, in employment and in active startups. A startup can count for several institutions if its founders studied or worked at more than one.

Top 10 by startups founded

1TU München

1,116

2ETH Zürich

1,022

3Universität St. Gallen

845

4WHU *

712

5TU Berlin

679

6RWTH Aachen

560

7LMU München

520

8Universität Zürich

461

9Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

427

10EPFL

425

Technical universityOther institution* private

TU München, ETH Zürich and Universität St. Gallen lead. 5 of the top 10 are technical universities.

Source: Entrepreneurial Impact of Academic Institutions 2025: DACH Ranking, p. 10. Data: StartupDetector, Austrian Startup Monitor, Startupticker.ch, Startup.ch, Dealroom, PitchBook, LinkedIn, company websites.

Top 25 and all indicators in the 2025 report

Key insights

Beyond the ranking: employment impact, funding success and founder pathways.

Employment impact

Where startups create jobs

Enterprise software

32,557

Transportation

28,398

Energy

26,970

Fintech

26,491

Health

22,046

Food

21,949

Real estate

14,886

Marketing

11,185

Total employees of startups founded 2014 to 2024, by industry (top 8 named industries)

Enterprise software creates the most jobs, followed by transportation, energy and fintech. A startup can belong to more than one industry.

Source: Entrepreneurial Impact of Academic Institutions 2026 in the DACH Region: Deep Dive Analysis, p. 22

Funding success

Few raise a lot, many raise little

1,873

1,280

437

370

287

199

< €1m€1-5m€5-10m€10-20m€20-50m> €50m

Number of funded startups per funding bucket

Over 40% of funded startups raise less than €1m, only about 10% raise more than €20m.

Source: Entrepreneurial Impact of Academic Institutions 2026 in the DACH Region: Deep Dive Analysis, p. 32

Founder pathways

Where founders worked before

Siemens

542

Bosch

353

323

BMW Group

315

Credit Suisse (incl. UBS)

295

McKinsey & Company

250

Mercedes-Benz Group

246

Accenture

224

Startups with at least one founder who worked at the company (top 8 of 20)

Large industrial corporates, consultancies and auditors dominate the prior employers of founders.

Source: Entrepreneurial Impact of Academic Institutions 2026 in the DACH Region: Deep Dive Analysis, p. 57

Founder pathways

Highest degree of founders

Bachelor

22%

20%

Master

66%

PhD

10%

13%

Professor

All founders (N = 8,749)Funded startups (N = 3,903)

Two thirds of founders hold a Master's degree. The PhD share rises from 10% to 13% among funded startups.

Source: Entrepreneurial Impact of Academic Institutions 2026 in the DACH Region: Deep Dive Analysis, p. 60