Y Combinator

aid: y-combinator
name: Y Combinator
description: >-
  Y Combinator is the most influential startup accelerator in the world, founded
  in 2005 by Paul Graham, Jessica Livingston, Robert Tappan Morris, and Trevor
  Blackwell. Originally split between Cambridge, Massachusetts and Mountain View,
  California, YC consolidated in Silicon Valley and is now headquartered in San
  Francisco. YC runs a three-month program four times a year (winter, spring,
  summer, fall), each batch typically funding 250-300 early-stage startups. Its
  standard deal invests $500,000 in every company: $125,000 for 7% of the company
  on a post-money SAFE, plus $375,000 on an uncapped SAFE with a Most Favored
  Nation (MFN) provision. YC has funded more than 5,000 companies with a combined
  valuation exceeding $600 billion, including Airbnb, Stripe, Coinbase, DoorDash,
  Instacart, Dropbox, Reddit, Twitch, GitLab, and Ginkgo Bioworks. The firm is
  led by president and CEO Garry Tan, a General Partner and himself a YC alum. YC
  is sector-agnostic but heavily developer-tools, AI, fintech, B2B/SaaS,
  infrastructure, healthcare, and hard-tech oriented, and its alumni network of
  6,000+ founders, plus Demo Day, Startup School, Work at a Startup, and Hacker
  News, form the connective tissue of the modern startup ecosystem.
x-type: venture-capital
x-category: Accelerator
image: https://www.ycombinator.com/apple-touch-icon.png
created: '2026-07-17'
modified: '2026-07-17'
specificationVersion: '0.20'
tags:
  - Venture Capital
  - Accelerator
  - Seed
  - Developer Tools
  - Artificial Intelligence
  - Fintech
  - Infrastructure
  - B2B SaaS
  - North America
  - San Francisco
apis: []
common:
  - type: Website
    url: https://www.ycombinator.com
  - type: Portfolio
    url: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies
  - type: Portfolio
    url: portfolio/y-combinator-portfolio.yml
  - type: Team
    url: https://www.ycombinator.com/people
  - type: Team
    url: team/y-combinator-team.yml
  - type: InvestmentThesis
    url: https://www.ycombinator.com/about
  - type: Blog
    url: https://www.ycombinator.com/blog
  - type: Pitch
    url: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply
  - type: Jobs
    url: https://www.workatastartup.com
  - type: Crunchbase
    url: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/y-combinator
  - type: LinkedIn
    url: https://www.linkedin.com/school/y-combinator/
  - type: Twitter
    url: https://twitter.com/ycombinator
  - type: GitHubOrganization
    url: https://github.com/ycombinator
  - type: Contact
    url: https://www.ycombinator.com/contact
  - type: Features
    data:
      - 'Model: Accelerator (3-month program, 4 batches per year)'
      - 'Stage: Pre-seed, Seed'
      - 'Typical check: $500,000 standard deal ($125K for 7% post-money SAFE + $375K uncapped SAFE with MFN)'
      - 'Batch size: 250-300 startups per batch'
      - 'Sectors: developer tools, AI, fintech, B2B SaaS, infrastructure, healthcare, hard tech (sector-agnostic)'
      - 'Geography: primarily North America; global applicants'
      - 'Companies funded: 5,000+ (combined valuation $600B+)'
      - 'Founded: 2005'
      - 'HQ: San Francisco, CA'
    sources:
      - https://www.ycombinator.com/about
      - https://www.ycombinator.com/deal
      - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y_Combinator
    updated: '2026-07-17'
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com
    url: https://apievangelist.com
  - FN: APIs.json
    url: http://apisjson.org
  - FN: Y Combinator
    url: https://www.ycombinator.com