India provides the United States with the highest number of founders than any other country, as Indian founders launched $96 billion worth of startups in the United States, according to a new study by the National Foundation for American Policy. Next is Israel (60), followed by the UK (47), China (41) and Canada (30). The report profiles these immigrant founders and their backgrounds—whether they came to the United States as students or for work, etc.The report said that 59% (455 of 775) of privately held startups in the United States worth $1 billion or more were founded or co-founded by immigrants, which is an increase from 55% in NFAP reports released in 2018 and 2022. Two-thirds (66%) of US billion-dollar companies (unicorns) were founded or co-founded by immigrants or children of immigrants. close to 80%of U.S. unicorns (private, billion-dollar companies) are either founded by immigrants or have immigrants in key leadership positions, such as CEO or VP of Engineering.The report comes as hatred against India reaches a peak on social media, with H-1B visa holders being painted as the main culprits, according to MAGA commentators, who fraudulently enter the United States, steal American jobs and create a housing crisis in American cities.But as the report silenced criticism, many commentators praised the Indian-American community.“India sent 96 people to the US to start billion-dollar companies. No one can compare to them. There are only about 5 million Indians in the US, and almost one in 50,000 of them are unicorn founders! What a divine, special, beautiful people. I will always fight for them,” wrote commentator Richard Hanania.“It’s time to use the old American proverb: “You haven’t seen a thing…!” “Despite the challenges, Indian Americans will remain as entrepreneurial as ever. But the new phase is right here in India, where the entrepreneurial boom has just begun. It will surprise the world…” wrote Indian business tycoon Anand Mahindra.
Key results of the study
- The founders of companies worth $183 billion all attended American universities as international students.
- SpaceX has 25,700 employees, the most of any multibillion-dollar company with an immigrant founder.
- With 96 companies, India is the leading country of origin for immigrant founders of multi-billion dollar companies.
- The 455 U.S. unicorn companies founded by immigrants have a combined valuation of $5 trillion.
- Immigrant female founders of multi-billion dollar companies include Rihanna (Barbados), Sherry Wei (China), Jen Rubio (Philippines), Joanna Kochaniak (Poland), Wei Dang (China).
List of Indians who founded two or more billion-dollar companies
- Mohit: Nutanix and cohesion
- Jyoti Bansal: Application dynamics and utilization
- Ashutosh Garg: Bloomreach and Fivefold.ai
- Arvind Jain: Rubrick and Grien
- Sachin Nayyar: Securonix and Saviynt
- Ajit Singh: Nutanix and Thoughtspot
