If you’re searching for higher return on investment, look no further than Waterloo.
With impressive velocity, University of Waterloo startups sped to a 2nd place ROI ranking in North America, according to a new report from AngelList Ventures. The report ranks academic institutions by the markup rate of their alumni’s ventures.
According to AngelList, return on investment strongly indicates how an investment in a startup is performing. Specifically, they analyzed rated founders according to the markup rate – the return relative to price on AngelList – of their startup. Those with the highest return, known as excess markup rate, were considered the best bets for return on investment.
Here some quick facts:
- UWaterloo had the second highest markup rate over the expected average at 13%, ahead of traditional startup powerhouses Stanford, MIT and Harvard.
- Early supporters of initially undervalued UWaterloo startups are reaping the rewards of recognizing opportunity and innovation in Waterloo.
- Two other Canadian universities, University of Toronto and McGill University, made the ranking in 16th and 19th place, respectively.
- The University of Washington topped the list with an average markup excess rate of 21.1%.
The results “speak highly of Waterloo founders’ ability to thrive here in Southwestern Ontario,” said Vivek Goel, president and vice-chancellor of UWaterloo. He went on to say that startups founded by UWaterloo alumni are “paving the way for future founders who want to grow within Canada.”
But what is driving UWaterloo’s startup success?
Waterloo’s tech ecosystem nurtures startups and helps them flourish. Innovation and venture-building are supported at every step between Canada’s most productive incubator (Velocity), top innovation hub (Communitech), #1 private business accelerator (Accelerator Centre) and Canada’s top technology university (UWaterloo). The symbiotic relationship between all four creates an ecosystem in which opportunity, talent and innovation can thrive.
And this ecosystem is definitely thriving.
Velocity recently announced that the total amount of funding raised by its companies surpassed $2.4 billion. This feat becomes even more impressive given that it took only two years for the incubator to reach the $2-billion mark, after the decade it took to reach $1-billion. Velocity boasts alumni ventures such as ApplyBoard and Faire, two companies that recently hit $4 billion and $7 billion valuations, respectively. But Waterloo-based innovation doesn’t stop there – Arctic Wolf, a leader in cybersecurity, had their moment in the spotlight recently when they raised $150 million and hit $4.3 billion valuation.
With investments pouring into our startup community, we continue to invent the future.