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The Smart Techie was renamed Siliconindia India Edition starting Feb 2012 to continue the nearly two decade track record of excellence of our US edition.

Indians Top Founders of U.S Venture-funded Firms

ST Team
Monday, January 2, 2012
ST Team
Immigrants, with the largest number coming from India, have started nearly half of America's top 50 venture-funded companies in the US creating about 150 jobs each, according to a new report. They are also key members of management or product development teams in almost 75 percent of the country's leading cutting-edge companies, according to a report released by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP).

India was followed by Israel, Canada, Iran and New Zealand as the top countries of origin for an immigrant founder. Other founders and co-founders were born in Italy, South Africa, Greece, Norway, Germany, Britain, Singapore, Switzerland and France.

The study found 37 of the top 50 companies, or 74 percent, had at least one immigrant helping the company grow and innovate by filling a key management or product development position. The report also found, 46 percent, or 23 out of 50, of the country's top venture-funded companies had at least one immigrant founder. A 2006 study conducted with the National Venture Capital Association identified an immigrant founder in 1 in 4, or 25 percent, of publicly traded venture-backed companies created between 1990 and 2005.

A second study released by NFAP, "America's Tradition of Rewarding Talent", suggests, "U.S. immigration policy does not look kindly on foreign nationals who seek to create businesses in America". The study concludes that the current policy "of rewarding cash but not talent is a rejection of America's heritage as a nation of immigrants and a nation of entrepreneurs".

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