Indian Immigrants Founded Most Of The Billion-Dollar Startups In US.

Immigrants started more than half of unicorns; 4 Indians are among the founders of multiple billion-dollar companies.

According to a new report, immigrants from 57 countries started more than half (319 of 582, or 55%) of America’s startup companies valued at $1 billion or more, with India topping the list with 66 companies.

Moreover, nearly 64% of US billion-dollar companies (unicorns) were founded or co-founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants, National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) said in a policy brief.

Almost 80% of America’s unicorn companies have an immigrant founder or an immigrant in a critical leadership role, such as CEO or vice president of engineering.

Immigrants from Israel founded the 2nd-most billion-dollar companies with 54, followed by the United Kingdom (27), Canada (22), China (21), France (18), Germany (15), and Russia (11), the report said.

At least 10 immigrants, including four from India — Mohit Aron (Nutanix and Cohesity), Ashutosh Garg (Bloomreach and Eightfold.ai), Ajeet Singh ( Nutanix), and Jyoti Bansal (AppDynamics and Harness) — have founded multiple billion-dollar companies.

Many immigrant entrepreneurs came to America as children with their families. The research shows the importance of immigrants in cutting-edge companies and the US economy when US immigration policies have pushed talent to other countries, NFAP said.

Several companies had multiple international students as founders. 174 international students became founders or cofounders of US billion-dollar companies.