Study Shows Immigrants Are At The Heart Of Silicon Valley
An annual Silicon Valley study on Internet trends is confirming just how visible and crucial immigrant inventors and innovators are to the tech industry in America and abroad.
Mary Meeker, a venture capitalist with California-based firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, released her yearly and sizable internet trends report. Data shows what many already know to be true: the biggest entrepenuers in America weren't born in America.
Meeker looked at 25 of the most highly valued companies in the tech world and found that 15 of them had founders who were first or second-generation Americans. Latinos on that list include Amazon's Jeff Bezos and the Brazilian co-founder of Facebook Eduardo Saverin.
The study also concluded that half of the most highly-valued private tech companies were founded by first-generation immigrants. Those companies include Uber, SpaceX, and Slack and combined they have helped to create over 48,000 jobs across the country.
This data comes in the midst of President Trump's series of highly controversial travel bans that has been heavily criticized by many in Silicon Valley as "unlawful." The Trump administration's insistence on an "America First" platform in foreign relations and business in particular, has been percieved as hurting global business ties and being antithetical to what makes Silicon Valley such a powerhouse and global magnet for innovation.