Trinity is Europe’s highest-ranked university for producing undergraduate students and companies receiving venture capital funding, according to a report published recently by PitchBook, a leading private equity and venture capital research firm.
Trinity is also the only European university to feature in the top 50, with Trinity graduates having founded more venture-backed companies than those from any other European university between 2006 and 2016.
The report shows that Trinity sits at 48th in the global rankings, which rank institutions according to the number of undergraduate alumni who go on to found companies that receive a first round of venture capitalist backing. Over the 10-year period during which the study was conducted, Trinity produced 192 such entrepreneurs and 180 companies.
This is the second year in a row that Trinity has been ranked as the best university in Europe for producing entrepreneurs by PitchBook. However, this year saw Trinity fall by eight places in the global rankings despite an increase in venture-capital raised by Trinity, from $655 million raised last year to $2,166 million this year.
In a press release, the Director of Trinity Research & Innovation, Diarmuid O’Brien, said: “Trinity is proud that our graduates have once again demonstrated that they are the best in Europe at creating new businesses. The companies created by our graduates are creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs and changing the world.”
Four recent companies founded by graduates have raised a combined $140 million within the last year. Among these are Swrve, whose chief technology officer is computer science graduate Steve Collins, and MoneyHero.com.hk, where economics graduate Alister Musgrave is managing director.
Startup Development Manager and Interim CEO of Trinity’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Hub, Fionnuala Healy, said in the press release: “We are continually working to ensure there is a strong culture of innovation and an understanding of entrepreneurship among our students and throughout our research community.”
“The pipeline for next year’s PitchBook report is already strong”, Healy said, referencing new Trinity-based company, Inflazome, based on the research of Professor of Biochemistry, Luke O’Neill, which last week received €15 million in venture capital funding.
Numerous Trinity companies have been developed by Trinity’s LaunchBox programme, a three-month-long business accelerator programme open to both postgraduate and undergraduate students. In just four years over 150 students have gone through the programme, with over 40 jobs being created by LaunchBox startups and more than €3 million of investment raised.
One of the most well-known companies to graduate from the LaunchBox programme is iDly, founded by former Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) Ents Officer, Finn Murphy, and who are responsible for the Trinity ID app. In February, the student entrepreneurship programme Blackstone LaunchPad, was launched, and is now based in the Berkeley Library.
In a press release, Executive Director of Blackstone LaunchPad and LaunchBox, Dr John Whelan, said that “while these data are based on investments made over the last 10 years, the significant increase since last year can be attributed at least in part to the support of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation”.
“The foundation’s LaunchPad programme at Trinity ensures that any student with a startup idea has access to extensive one-on-one support during their time at Trinity”, he added.
Last April, it was also announced that Trinity would be converting part of the existing Hamilton restaurant into a Bank of Ireland branch and business incubation hub, which will provide students with a purpose designed space to develop their business ideas.
Trinity is also currently developing an entrepreneurship and incubation hub. In August, The University Times reported that Trinity is in the process of hiring a new CEO to coordinate Trinity’s numerous entrepreneurship programmes into an innovation and entrepreneurship centre, which will be co-located in Trinity’s new business school.
A key part of the role will be to link the numerous entrepreneurship activities that take place across the college, including those not on the main campus, such as “The Tower” on the Trinity Technology and Enterprise Campus on Pearse Street, which has helped support numerous student startups in recent years.
