The study – Immigrant Entrepreneurs and US Billion-Dollar Companies – found that 66 companies with a valuation of over $1 billion were founded by immigrants from India.
Further, four out of 10 immigrants who have founded multiple billion-dollar enterprises are from India.
These include Mohit Aron (Nutanix and Cohesity), Ashutosh Garg (Bloomreach and Eightfold.ai), Ajeet Singh (Nutanix and ThoughtSpot) and Jyoti Bansal (AppDynamics and Harness).
“The research shows the importance of immigrants in cutting-edge companies and the US economy at a time when US immigration policies have pushed talent to other countries,” said Stuart Anderson, the author of the study and NFAP’s executive director.
The research is based on interviews and information on over 580 US startup companies valued at over $1 billion (as of May 2022) that have yet to become publicly traded on the US stock market and are tracked by the firm CB Insights. The companies, so-called “unicorns,” are all privately held, valued at $1 billion or more and have received venture capital financing, said Anderson.
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Several countries including Canada have introduced dedicated startup visa programs that help them attract immigrants who want to start their own ventures, often led by technology.
At present, there are no provisions under US immigration law for foreign nationals to start a business and remain in the country after founding the company.
Successful immigrant entrepreneurs in America are almost always refugees or family-sponsored and employer-sponsored immigrants.
“Additional administrative reforms would also make it easier for temporary visa holders to start new businesses. The long wait for employment-based green cards due to low quotas and the per-country limit prevents many individuals in H-1B status from having the employment status that would allow them to start a business,” said Anderson.
The Congressional Research Service estimates that the backlog for employment-based green cards for Indians could exceed 2 million by 2030.
The annual limit of 85,000 for H-1B temporary visas can also make it difficult for startup companies to hire new personnel in their fast-growing businesses or for international students to remain in the United States.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), its immigration agency, reported that it received 483,927 H-1B registrations for FY23 and rejected nearly 400,000, or 82%, of registrations as exceeding the annual limit for H-1B petitions.
Highlighting the role of immigrants in these companies, the study found that almost 80% of America’s unicorn companies have an immigrant founder or an immigrant in a key leadership role, such as CEO or vice president of engineering.
These companies are also creating job opportunities for American workers, with firms like Better.com, Automation Anywhere, MuSigma and Icertis being among the top job creators among those covered in the study.
