Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, better known as STEM, is a field that has huge potential for solving many of humanity’s biggest problems. In collaboration with Newton Venture Programme, we’ve taken an in-depth look at the educational background of founders and investors at STEM companies based in the UK that have incorporated since 2019. These companies have either spun out of a university or received a large innovation grant.
Below is a summary of the full report. To get all the details, take a look at the full report.
Key Findings
We analysed 443 companies that have incorporated since 2019 and have founder education data available.
- 59.1% of these companies have at least one founder with a PhD
- 40.9% of these companies have at least one investor with a board seat with a PhD
- The median investment raised by companies with at least one founder with a PhD (2019–2021) is £395k
Companies by educational attainment of founders
While PhD qualifications are prevalent among founders of innovative STEM companies, they are not a requirement for launching such companies. 40.9% of companies have founders with a highest level of education below PhD level.
Founders educated to a PhD-level are often concentrated in particularly knowledge-intensive and regulated areas such as life sciences. In contrast, software sectors seem to have a better representation of companies where the highest founder education level is undergraduate.
