Search and social giants dominate new university startups league

New research by money.co.uk has crowned Google as the most successful company to be started at university. The search engine sits at the top of the university startup league table with a current market capitalisation of $1.27 trillion (£926 billion). This is 12.7 million times greater than the $100,000 initial funding the company received in 1998. 

In second place with a market cap of $738.57bn (£540bn) is Facebook. This is almost 1.5 million times greater than the $500,000 angel investment the company received in 2004.

Social media app, Snapchat has the third largest market cap of $80.16bn (£58bn), despite being less than ten years old. This figure is over 165,000 times the $485,000 venture capital investment the company received in 2012.

Despite their current market cap, the initial share prices of three quarters of the companies in the league table were under $50. This includes Facebook ($38/£27.85), Snapchat ($24/£17.59), Hewlett-Packard ($16/£11.73), JustEat Takeaway.com ($25.82/£18.93/€23) and Dropbox ($21/£15.39) 

In fact, at their initial public offering, shares in a third of the most successful university startups were available for under $10. This includes FedEx ($1.02/£0.75), Sage ($3.37/£2.47), Avast ($3.41/£2.50) and Dell $8.5 (£6.23).

Salman Haqqi, Personal Finance Expert at money.co.uk, commented on the league table: “Tech companies dominate our league table of successful businesses that were started at university. This could be because of the accessibility the sector offers for student entrepreneurs. 

“Considering their current success, the thought of paying just over a dollar for a share in a billion dollar company is unimaginable for many. Yet it underlines the potentially lucrative opportunity that investing in a company early in its history can bring.”

Companies Started At University Ranked By Current Market Cap

Google 

Founded by: Larry Page and Sergey Brin

Year founded: 1998

University: Stanford University

Initial funding: $100,000

Initial value per share: $85 (£62.30)

Market Cap (01/02/21): $1.27 trillion (£926 billion)

Facebook

Founded by: Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes

Year founded: 2004

University: Harvard University

Initial funding: $500,000

Initial value per share: $38 (£27.85)

Market Cap (01/02/21): $738.57 billion (£540 billion)

Snapchat

Founded by: Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, Reggie Brown

Year founded: 2011

University: Stanford University 

Initial funding: $485,000

Initial value per share: $24 (£17.59)

Market Cap (01/02/21): $80.16 billion (£58 billion)

FedEx

Founded by: Frederick W. Smith

Year founded: 1971

University: Yale University

Initial funding: $95,000,000

Initial value per share: $12.02 (£0.75)

Market Cap (01/02/21): $62.53 billion (£45 billion)

Dell

Founded by: Michael Dell

Year founded: 1984

University: University of Texas at Austin

Initial funding: $1,000

Initial value per share: $8.5 (£6.23)

Market Cap (01/02/21): $54.47 billion (£39 billion)

Just Eat Takeaway.com 

Founded by: Jesper Buch, Christian Frismodt, Per Meldgaard, Henrik Østergaard

Year founded: 2000

University: University of Twente

Initial funding: N/A

Initial value per share: $25.82 (£18.93 / €23)

Market Cap (01/02/21): $17.2 billion (€14 billion / £12.5 billion)

Hewlett Packard (HP)

Founded by: David Packard, Bill Hewlett

Year founded: 1989

University: Stanford University

Initial funding: $538

Initial value per share: $16 (£11.73)

Market Cap (01/02/21): $15.77 billion (£11 billion)

Dropbox

Founded by: Drew Houston, Arash Ferdowsi

Year founded: 2007

University: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Initial funding: $15,000

Initial value per share: $21 (£15.39)

Market Cap (01/02/21): $9.31 billion (£6.8 billion)

Sage

Founded by: David Goldman, Graham Wylie, Paul Milford Muller

Year founded: 1981

University: Newcastle University (Graham Wylie)

Initial funding: N/A

Initial value per share: $3.37 (£2.47)

Market Cap (01/02/21): $9.04 billion (£6.6 billion)

Avast

Founded by: Pavel Baudiš, Eduard Kučera

Year founded: 1988

University: Research Institute for Mathematical Machines in Czechoslovakia

Initial funding: N/A

Initial value per share: $3.41 (£2.50)

Market Cap (01/02/21): $6.8 billion (£5 billion)

Unite Students

Founded by: Nicholas Porter

Year founded: 1991

University: University of the West of England

Initial funding: N/A

Initial value per share: $132.72 (£97.25)

Market Cap (01/02/21): $5.24 billion (£3.8 billion)

Computacenter

Founded by: Peter Ogden, Philip Hulme

Year founded: 1981 

University: Harvard Business School

Initial funding: N/A

Initial value per share: $1,501 (£1,100)

Market Cap (01/02/21): $3.67 billion (£2.7 billion)

Startup Details

Startup Details

TOTAL FUNDING AMOUNT
CB RANK (COMPANY) 195,047

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  • Headquarters Regions
    London, UK
  • Founded Date
    2000
  • Founders
    Chris Morling
  • Operating Status
    Active
  • Number of Employees
    51-200