Immigrant Founders and Key Personnel in America's 50 Top Venture-funded Companies
Immigrants are increasingly important in driving growth and innovation in America, as evidenced by the role played by foreign-born founders and key personnel in the nation's breakthrough companies.
Immigrants have started nearly half of America’s 50 top venture-funded companies and are key members of management or product development teams in more than 75 percent of our country's leading cutting-edge companies. The research finds that among the top venture-backed companies, immigrant founders have created an average of approximately 150 jobs per company in the United States.
While a 2006 study identified an immigrant founder in one in four publicly traded venture-backed companies created between 1990 and 2005, this study is the first to examine the role immigrants play on the management or product development team in leading private companies in information technology, health, energy, business and financial services, and other fields.
Anderson, S. (2011). Immigrant Founders and Key Personnel in America's 50 Top Venture-funded Companies. Retrieved from: http://www.nfap.com/pdf/NFAPPolicyBriefImmigrantFoundersandKeyPersonnelinAmericasTopVentureFundedCompanies.pdf