Indian-born entrepreneurs have established the largest group of immigrant founders of billion-dollar companies in the United States, according to a new study by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP). The research found that 96 American unicorns were founded or co-founded by entrepreneurs of Indian origin, representing the highest number among all immigrant groups. Among these companies is Perplexity AI, co-founded by Aravind Srinivas, which ranks 12th with a valuation of $20 billion. The study, titled 'Immigrants and US Billion-dollar Companies' and authored by Stuart Anderson, demonstrates India's significant contribution to America's startup ecosystem. Among the most prominent Indian-founded unicorns cited in the report are Cohesity, founded by Mohit Aron and valued at $9 billion, Glean, founded by Arvind Jain and valued at $7.2 billion, and Bloomreach and Eightfold.ai, both co-founded by Ashutosh Garg.
The NFAP study reveals that India tops the list of countries of origin for immigrant founders of US unicorns with 96 companies, followed by Israel (60 unicorns), the United Kingdom (47), China (41), Canada (30), Russia (23), France (21), Germany (18), Ukraine (16), Australia (14), Pakistan (10), and Romania (10). The research found that immigrants have founded or co-founded 455 of America's 775 unicorn companies, accounting for 59% of all privately held billion-dollar startups in the United States. When the children of immigrants are included, that figure rises to 66%. According to the study, approximately two-thirds (66%) of unicorns were founded or co-founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants, with nearly 80% of US unicorns having either an immigrant founder or an immigrant in a key leadership role. The collective value of immigrant-founded unicorns has reached ₹40 lakh crore ($5 trillion), a figure larger than the total stock market capitalization of most countries in the world. These companies have created an average of 833 jobs each, highlighting their significant employment impact.
The study identified at least 15 immigrants, including Elon Musk, who have founded two or more unicorns. Six Indian-origin founders who made it to the coveted list include Mohit Aron (Nutanix and Cohesity), Jyoti Bansal (AppDynamics and Harness), Ashutosh Garg (Bloomreach and Eightfold.ai), Arvind Jain (Rubrik and Glean), Sachin Nayyar (Securonix and Saviynt), and Ajeet Singh (Nutanix and ThoughtSpot). Indians account for 40% of all immigrant repeat founders identified in the study, with Mohit Aron, Jyoti Bansal, Ashutosh Garg, Arvind Jain, Sachin Nayyar, and Ajeet Singh all making the list. Lebanese-born entrepreneur Noubar Afeyan has founded five companies that achieved valuations of $1 billion or more, including Moderna, Indigo Ag, Generate Biomedicines, Tessera Therapeutics, and Lila Sciences. South Africa-born Elon Musk has founded or co-founded four companies valued at $1 billion or more -- SpaceX, OpenAI, The Boring Company, and Neuralink, while also serving as CEO of Tesla. The NFAP study noted that immigrant entrepreneurs behind U.S. unicorns come from 76 different countries, highlighting the role of global talent in building high-growth companies in the United States.
The report highlights a remarkable pattern among Indian entrepreneurs: several have founded multiple billion-dollar companies. Nearly one-quarter of all U.S. unicorn companies have a founder who first arrived in America as an international student. The study lists dozens of Indian entrepreneurs who followed this path, earning degrees from American universities before launching successful startups. Among them are Sri Satish Ambati of H2O.ai, Gaurab Chakrabarti of Solugen, Kanav Hasija of Innovaccer, Chakri Gottemukkala of o9 Solutions, Prakash Govindan of Gradiant, and Arvind Jain of Glean. The NFAP identified 233 former international students who went on to become founders or co-founders of billion-dollar companies. Several Indian-founded unicorns rank among the largest employers, with Cohesity employing about 6,000 people, o9 Solutions having 2,500 employees, Icertis more than 2,300, Phenom over 2,000, and Innovaccer more than 1,600 workers. The report argues that immigrant entrepreneurs are critical to maintaining America's technological leadership, particularly in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence.
The NFAP report reveals the extraordinary economic impact of immigrant-founded unicorns, with the collective value of immigrant-founded unicorn companies rising from $168 billion to $5.0 trillion between 2016 and 2026, representing a 2,876% increase in just a decade. This figure excludes more than $837 billion in combined market capitalization for unicorn companies with at least one immigrant founder that have gone public since 2016. The study notes that these companies benefit the pocketbooks of retirees and other Americans through individual stock investments and mutual fund holdings. Among the highest-valued companies are OpenAI, Anthropic, Databricks, Stripe and SpaceX, with immigrant-founded unicorns dominating artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, biotechnology, healthcare, defense technology and enterprise software sectors. One notable example is Munjal Shah, co-founder and CEO of Hippocratic AI, whose father arrived in the US with just $16 in his pocket to attend graduate school at Berkeley, with his company now valued at $3.5 billion and employing nearly 200 people.
