Indian Americans have founded startups worth $96 billion in the United States. Mohit Arun (left) and Jyoti Bansal have founded several multi-billion dollar companies.
A new study by the National Foundation for American Policy reveals that India provides the highest number of founders to the US – higher than any other country with Indian founders starting startups worth $96 billion in the US.
Israel comes in second with 60, followed by the United Kingdom with 47, China with 41, and Canada with 30. The report looked at these immigrant founders and their backgrounds — whether they came to the United States as students, whether they came to the United States to get jobs, and so on.The report said immigrants founded or co-founded 59% (455 of 775) of privately owned U.S. startups worth $1 billion or more, which represents an increase from 55% in NFAP reports issued in 2018 and 2022. Two-thirds (66%) of US billion-dollar companies (unicorns) were founded or founded by immigrants or children of immigrants. nearly 80%Many US unicorns (billion-dollar private companies) have an immigrant or immigrant founder in a key leadership role, such as CEO or VP of engineering.The report came at a time when Indian hatred on social media was at its peak, with H-1B visa holders being portrayed as the main culprits who, according to MAGA commentators, are cheating their way into the US, stealing American jobs, and creating a housing crisis in US cities.But while the report closed its doors to critics, many commentators praised the Indian-American community.“India sent 96 people to America who created multi-billion dollar companies.
There’s no one else even close. There are only about 5 million Indians in America. Nearly one in every 50,000 of them is a unicorn founder! What a sacred, special and beautiful people. “I will always fight for them,” commentator Richard Hanania wrote.“It’s time to use the old American phrase: ‘You haven’t seen anything yet!’ Despite the challenges, Indian Americans will remain as entrepreneurial as ever. But the new phase will be here within India where the startup boom is just beginning. It will surprise the world…” wrote Indian businessman Anand Mahindra.
Main findings of the study
- 183 billion-dollar companies have founders who attended a US university as international students.
- SpaceX, with 25,700 employees, has the largest number of employees among billion-dollar companies with an immigrant founder.
- India, with 96 companies, is the leading country of origin for immigrant founders of multi-billion-dollar companies.
- The 455 companies founded by immigrants in the United States are collectively worth $5 trillion.
- Immigrant women founders of multi-billion dollar companies include Rihanna (Barbados), Sherri Wei (China), Jane Rubio (Philippines), Joanna Kochaniak (Poland), and Wei Dang (China).
List of Indians who have founded two or more multi-billion dollar companies
- Mohit Arun: Nutanics and cohesion
- Jyoti Bansal: Application and harnessing dynamics
- Ashutosh Garg: Bloomreach and Eightfold.ai
- Arvind Jain: Rubric and Glenn
- Sachin Nayyar: Securonix and Savient
- Ajit Singh: Nutanix and Rootspot