Seed accelerator, Mountain View

Y Combinator

Venture capital firm · Mountain View · Founded March 2005

Quick read

Y Combinator, seed accelerator, founded 2005, headquartered in Mountain View, US. It runs four batches per year, investing $500K into each accepted startup ($125K for 7% equity plus a $375K uncapped MFN SAFE), with an acceptance rate under 1%. As of 2026, YC has backed over 5,668 companies with a combined valuation of $600 billion.

Key facts

Founded
March 2005
Founders
Paul Graham, Jessica Livingston, Trevor Weissmann
Employees
1872
Sectors
generalist, ai, saas, fintech, healthcare, consumer, enterprise
Website
www.ycombinator.com

Investment thesis

YC backs founders at the earliest possible stage — pre-revenue, pre-product, sometimes pre-idea — across all sectors, writing a $500K check four times a year and betting that the quality of founders and the density of the YC network compounds into outsized returns.

Recent activity

  • Mar 2026investment
    YC portfolio company Starcloud raised a $170M Series A at a $1.1B valuation led by Benchmark and EQT Ventures — 17 months after Demo Day, making it YC's fastest unicorn to date. en.wikipedia.org
  • 2026product
    YC published its Spring 2026 Requests for Startups, its most specific list to date. Ten priority areas include AI-native hedge funds, AI for government operations, stablecoin financial services, software-defined metal mills, and tools to reduce LLM training costs. Each idea is attributed to a named YC partner or founder. beststartup.us
  • 2026investment
    YC now invests $500,000 per startup — structured as $125,000 on a post-money SAFE for 7% equity plus $375,000 on an uncapped MFN SAFE. The firm has backed over 5,668 companies with a combined valuation of $600B as of 2026. en.wikipedia.org
  • 2026product
    The Fall 2026 batch is scheduled to run October through December in San Francisco. Applications are open and being discussed in the YC community. reddit.com
  • Jun 2026fundraise
    Access Fund closed its Spring 2026 fund on June 5, 2026, giving outside investors diversified exposure to YC Demo Day companies alongside Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz. accessfund.vc
  • 2026investment
    Vorflux, founded by former Rippling co-founder and CTO Prasanna Sankar, raised $15M in seed funding from YC, Peak XV Partners, and Alliance. outx.ai
  • Jul 2026investment
    YC-backed Weave closed a $13.5M Series A led by Standard Capital. The company grew from $80K to $300K ARR during YC's W25 batch and has since signed Robinhood as an enterprise client. linkedin.com
  • Jun 2026leadership
    Diana Hu promoted to Managing Partner at Y Combinator, announced by Garry Tan on the YC blog. ycombinator.com
  • Jun 2026product
    YC opened applications for its Fall 2026 batch. Interviews will be held by video conference in August and September, with the batch running in person at YC's San Francisco campus. globalsouthopportunities.com
  • Jun 2026press
    Forbes published an analysis of YC's Spring 2026 batch, highlighting companies including Lumius (AI-assisted ultrasound imaging) and Minicor (AI agent desktop automation for enterprises). forbes.com
  • Jun 2026leadership
    Harshita Arora joined YC as General Partner, bringing fintech and infrastructure experience. ycombinator.com
  • May 2026investment
    YC held in-person crypto and fintech startup interviews in New York City on May 21 — the first time it has taken sector-specific interviews outside San Francisco. Selected companies joined the Summer 2026 batch starting June 23, with the standard $500K deal and an option to receive funding in Circle's USDC stablecoin. theblock.co

Notable investments

Key people

Named individuals at the firm. We don't expose direct email or phone — use their LinkedIn for outreach.

  • Garry Tan · President & CEO
    Brief →LinkedIn
  • Jessica Livingston · Co-Founder
  • Paul Graham · Co-Founder
  • Trevor Weissmann · Co-Founder
  • JJ Fliegelman · Partner
  • Paul Graham Y Combinator · Co-founder
    Brief →
  • Jared Friedman · Managing Director
  • Diana Hu · Group Partner
  • Michael Seibel · Group Partner
  • Dalton Caldwell · Group Partner
  • Tom Blomfield · Group Partner
  • Pete Koomen · Group Partner

Sources

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Frequently asked

What is Y Combinator?+

Y Combinator, seed accelerator, founded 2005, headquartered in Mountain View, US. It runs four batches per year, investing $500K into each accepted startup ($125K for 7% equity plus a $375K uncapped MFN SAFE), with an acceptance rate under 1%.

Where is Y Combinator headquartered?+

Y Combinator is headquartered in Mountain View, United States.

When was Y Combinator founded?+

Y Combinator was founded in March 2005 by Paul Graham, Jessica Livingston, Trevor Weissmann.

What sectors does Y Combinator invest in?+

Y Combinator focuses on generalist, ai, saas, fintech, healthcare, consumer, enterprise. They primarily invest in these sectors.

Who is the CEO of Y Combinator?+

Garry Tan is the CEO of Y Combinator.

How do I prepare for a meeting with Y Combinator?+

Brief generates a structured pre-meeting briefing on any person at Y Combinator — quick read, recent activity, points of view, and conversation openers tailored to what you sell. Sign in to get personalised openers for your product.

Meeting with someone at Y Combinator?

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Generated by briefthecall.com from public web sources. Last updated August 6, 2026. Each claim is linked to its source above.

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