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Half of the most highly valued tech companies in the U.S. were founded by immigrants

That number goes up to 60 percent when you consider companies founded by second-generation Americans.

Mary Meeker, Code 2017 Asa Mathat

It turns out immigration is a boon for innovation in the United States. Sixty percent of the highest-valued tech companies were co-founded by first- or second-generation immigrants, according to Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner Mary Meeker’s annual internet trends report, which she presented at the Code Conference at Terranea Resort today.

Mary Meeker internet trends report

That number is still pretty high even if you count just first-generation Americans. Half of all of the most valuable private tech companies in the United Sates were co-founded by immigrants — including Uber, SpaceX, Instacart, AppNexus and FanDuel.

Mary Meeker internet trends report

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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