Data settles the debate: IIT Delhi leads in both unicorn numbers and startup jobs

Mayank Kumar picks up his phone mid-conversation and scrolls through a WhatsApp group. The names he reads out casually roll off like a regular alumni roster: Binny Bansal, Co-founder of Flipkart; Deepinder Goyal, Founder and CEO of Zomato; Abhishek Bansal, Co-founder of logistics company Shadowfax.

But this isn’t just any group. It's a list of some of India’s most influential startup founders, and they all happen to be alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Kumar himself is on that list. He's the co-founder of edtech unicorn UpGrad and of BorderPlus, a new-age skilling company for overseas workers.

“It's quite obvious that no higher education institution in the country has done better than IIT Delhi when it comes to creating successful entrepreneurs,” he says, not without pride.

Data that The CapTable exclusively obtained from One Innovation, a portal jointly developed by analytics platform YNOS Venture Engine, in partnership with IIT Madras' Centre for Research on Start-Ups and Risk Financing and the Ministry of Education, backs his claim. 

Of all higher education institutions in the country, IIT Delhi has created the highest number of unicorn founders: 27. This includes the institute’s alumni and founders who incubated their ventures in the institute of national importance.