Y Combinator

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

• Apr 2026product
  Y Combinator opened applications for its Summer 2026 batch, with a deadline of May 4 and interviews scheduled for May and June. x.com
• Apr 2026product
  YC announced AI Startup School 2026 in San Francisco (July 25–26), offering $25K+ in compute credits from OpenAI and Anthropic, travel reimbursement, and a direct track into YC funding for technical founders. x.com
• Mar 2026press
  YC announced Starcloud as its fastest unicorn to date — the company raised a $170M Series A at a $1.1B valuation led by Benchmark and EQT Ventures, just 17 months after Demo Day. en.wikipedia.org
• Feb 2026product
  YC announced that funded startups can now elect to receive their $500K investment in stablecoins (USDC), citing the passage of the GENIUS Act and growing institutional adoption. x.com
• Feb 2026leadership
  Tyler Bosmeny joined Y Combinator as a Visiting Partner for the Spring 2026 batch. linkedin.com
• Feb 2026product
  Applications for the Spring 2026 batch closed February 9; YC published its Spring 2026 Request for Startups outlining priority idea areas. x.com
• Oct 2025product
  Applications for the Winter 2026 batch opened, with a November 10 deadline. x.com

Notable investments

• StarcloudSeries A ($170M, $1.1B valuation)Mar 2026en.wikipedia.org
• Unnamed portfolio companySeries C ($60M, with Wellington Management)2026topstartups.io
• Unnamed portfolio companySeries D ($150M, $4.2B valuation, with Sequoia)2025topstartups.io
• Unnamed portfolio companySeries D ($125M, $1.2B valuation, with Founders Fund)2025topstartups.io

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

• Y Combinator Official Site
• Y Combinator — Wikipedia
• Garry Tan — LinkedIn
• YC Stablecoin Funding Announcement
• YC AI Startup School 2026 Announcement
• Y Combinator Portfolio 2026 — Top Startups
• Apply to YC

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