According to a new report, 79 IIT and 20 IIM alumni founded tech startups in January-August 2026, against 307 and 71, respectively, in the whole of 2025
Fewer graduates from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are taking the entrepreneurial route this year, even as the number of new technology startups in India continues to grow, The Economic Times reported on Saturday.
Only 79 IIT alumni and 20 IIM alumni founded technology startups between January and August 2026, compared with 307 IIT graduates and 71 IIM graduates who founded startups during the whole of 2025, according to the ET report, citing data from Tracxn.
The figures for 2026 cover only the first eight months of the year and are not directly comparable with the full-year 2025 numbers.
The trend comes amid an increase in overall startup formation. India saw 6,353 technology startups founded up to August 2026, compared with 3,969 during the whole of 2025, according to the report.
The divergence between overall startup formation and the number of founders from premier institutions could point to a shift in the career choices of highly qualified graduates.
Vikram Gupta, founder and managing partner of IvyCap Ventures, told ET that the increase in startup formation was encouraging, but the limited participation of IIT and IIM alumni indicated that a substantial pool of talent remained untapped.
He said entrepreneurship needed to become a more viable career option for a wider pool of talent if India was to build enduring companies.
IIT alumni continue to account for a larger share of startup founders than IIM graduates. Of the 196,704 technology startups tracked in India as of August 2026, 6,147 had at least one IIT founder, while 2,102 had at least one IIM founder, according to the data.
Neha Singh, co-founder of Tracxn, said that the larger presence of IIT alumni reflected the size of their alumni base and the engineering and deep-tech orientation of technology startups. Technical founders often initiate ventures, with business expertise from IIM graduates and other professionals coming in as companies expand, she said.