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
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)
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)
