Midwest Universities: A Startup Powerhouse Hidden in Plain Sight

While the coasts often steal the spotlight when it comes to startup success, new rankings by  Start Midwest —based on Dealroom data—reveal that the American Midwest quietly punches far above its weight.

Institutions across Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin have produced a surprising number of VC-backed startups, unicorns, and founders—rivaling coastal elites. Contrary to cliché, companies like Google, YouTube, Paypal, and more recently,  Perplexity   AI  all had founders who studied in the Midwest.

The University of Michigan leads in sheer output of startups and founders, but when adjusted for alumni size, schools like Northwestern , University of Chicago , and Notre Dame rise to the top. For example, nearly 1% of Northwestern alumni became founders.  Wayne State topped the list for unicorns per startup, and the University of Chicago stood out for having the highest share of founders raising $10M+.

These metrics favor "founder density" over raw volume—rewarding entrepreneurial ecosystems, not just scale. Globally, only one Midwest university (U. Michigan) made the top 20 by volume, but by likelihood of creating unicorns, it climbed even higher. Still, the real standout might be the University of Chicago, which could rival top global universities when controlling for scale.

Bottom line: if you're looking to launch a billion-dollar startup, you don’t have to flee to the coasts: the Midwest has the institutions, infrastructure, and talent to make it happen.

Read the full article by Phil Vella, based on Dealroom data: https://www.start-midwest.com/news/the-start-midwest-university-rankings-2025