Y Combinator

AI data infrastructure company that provides data labeling, model evaluation, and software to accelerate the development of AI applications for enterprises, government agencies, and AI labs.

Self-driving car technology company that developed autonomous vehicles for ride-hailing and delivery services. Founded as a Y Combinator startup, acquired by General Motors in 2016, and became one of the most heavily funded autonomous vehicle ventures in history before GM wound down its robotaxi operations in December 2024.

Online marketplace for short-term lodging and experiences

Online grocery delivery and pick-up platform connecting customers with personal shoppers. One of the largest grocery technology companies in the US.

On-demand food delivery platform connecting consumers with local restaurants and stores, operating as the largest food delivery service in the United States with over 56% market share.

Technology-powered freight forwarder and supply chain logistics platform that moves goods globally by ocean, air, truck, and rail, providing end-to-end visibility and data-driven supply chain management.

Zepto is an Indian quick-commerce platform that delivers groceries, household essentials, and electronics to customers in approximately 10 minutes through a network of hyper-local dark stores. Founded by two Stanford dropouts, the company operates over 900 dark stores across major Indian cities.

Latin American super-app providing on-demand delivery of food, groceries, and goods, along with digital financial services including payments, credit cards, and banking across nine countries in the region.

Workforce management platform that unifies HR, IT, and finance into a single system built on a unified employee graph.

Online wholesale marketplace connecting independent brands with independent retailers. Retailers discover and buy from over 100,000 brands with free returns, net-60 payment terms, and data-driven recommendations.

Indian social commerce and e-commerce platform enabling small businesses, individual entrepreneurs, and resellers to sell products online through social channels. Originally a reseller network connecting suppliers with micro-entrepreneurs, evolved into a full consumer marketplace with 234 million annual transacting users.

The first federally regulated prediction market exchange in the United States, approved by the CFTC as a Designated Contract Market in 2020. Enables users to trade event contracts on real-world outcomes spanning economics, politics, weather, sports, and culture. Emerged from Y Combinator's W19 batch.

Opendoor is a digital real estate platform that pioneered the iBuying model, enabling homeowners to sell their homes online with instant cash offers. The company uses data science and pricing algorithms to buy, renovate, and resell residential homes.

Social news aggregation and discussion platform where users submit, vote on, and discuss content across millions of community-driven forums called subreddits.

AI-powered corporate spend management platform providing corporate cards, expense management, bill payments, and banking solutions for startups and enterprises.

Cloud communications and CRM platform enabling businesses to engage customers across SMS, email, WhatsApp, and other channels via APIs. Originally known as MessageBird, rebranded to Bird in February 2024. Serves 15,000+ customers across 170+ countries with AI-powered marketing, sales, and payment tools.

Global HR and payroll platform that enables companies to hire, pay, and manage workers and contractors in over 150 countries, handling compliance, taxes, and benefits.

Live-stream shopping marketplace where buyers and sellers connect in real-time video auctions. Originally focused on collectibles like Funko Pops and Pokemon cards, now expanded to dozens of categories including sports cards, sneakers, fashion, electronics, and art.

B2B food supply chain technology platform connecting farms, food producers, and buyers through its proprietary WholesaleWare software. Operates as the largest private food technology company in the US, facilitating over $3 billion in annual food transactions across all 50 states.

Construction technology and equipment solutions provider combining a large-scale equipment rental fleet with its proprietary T3 cloud platform for fleet management, telematics, and real-time operational visibility. Operates over 370 locations across the United States.

Astranis builds small geostationary broadband satellites (MicroGEO) that are roughly 1/20th the size of traditional GEO spacecraft, drastically reducing manufacturing and launch costs. The company operates the satellites it builds and leases dedicated capacity to telecom and internet service providers, connecting underserved regions worldwide.

Full-stack financial solutions platform for businesses in India, providing payment gateway, business banking, lending, and payroll solutions. Processes payments via credit cards, debit cards, digital wallets, and internet banking.

Automated data movement platform that reliably moves data from 700+ sources including SaaS applications, databases, and files to data warehouses, data lakes, and other destinations.

Synthetic biology company that builds an automated platform for programming cells, enabling customers across pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and industrial chemicals to harness the power of biology.

Cloud-based payroll, benefits, and HR platform for small and medium businesses, serving over 400,000 companies. Originally launched as ZenPayroll in 2012 before rebranding to Gusto in 2015.

AI-powered background check platform that modernizes the hiring process for companies of all sizes, serving over 100,000 customers including Uber, DoorDash, and Instacart.

Flock Safety builds an integrated public safety platform combining AI-powered license plate readers, gunshot detection, video surveillance cameras, and Drone As First Responder technology. The company's technology is deployed in over 5,000 communities and 4,800 law enforcement agencies across the U.S., helping solve hundreds of crimes per day.

Cloud storage and file synchronization platform that lets users store, share, and collaborate on files across devices.

Groww is India's largest direct-to-consumer digital investment platform, offering mutual funds, stocks, IPOs, ETFs, digital gold, and derivatives trading. Founded by four former Flipkart employees, the company grew from a mutual fund distribution platform to a full-service brokerage serving millions of retail investors across India. A Y Combinator alumnus (W18 batch), Groww was YC's first company to list on an Indian stock exchange.

Zenefits was a cloud-based human resources platform that offered free HR software to small and mid-sized businesses, handling payroll, benefits administration, and compliance. The company rose rapidly through Y Combinator to a $4.5 billion valuation but collapsed after regulatory scandals revealed unlicensed insurance brokerage. Acquired by TriNet in 2022.

Cryptocurrency exchange and blockchain platform

Global managed marketplace for authentic sneakers, apparel, and accessories. Operates four brands: GOAT, Flight Club, Grailed, and alias. Features a ship-to-verify authentication model ensuring product legitimacy, serving over 50 million members across 170 countries.

Open-core DevSecOps platform delivered as a single application for the entire software development lifecycle, from planning and source code management to CI/CD, security, and monitoring.

OpenSea is a decentralized marketplace for NFTs and digital assets. Originally the world's largest NFT marketplace, the platform has evolved into a multi-chain trading platform supporting NFTs and token trading across 22+ blockchains. Founded after being inspired by CryptoKitties, the platform relaunched as OS2 in 2025 with cross-chain functionality and reduced fees.

AI-powered customer communication and lead conversion platform for local businesses. Helps over 100,000 businesses manage reviews, messaging, payments, and marketing from a single dashboard. Originally founded as RepDrive, a Y Combinator W16 alumnus.

The world's largest curated corporate learning platform, aggregating content from over 250 training providers into a single subscription. Founded in Brisbane, Australia by a group of friends and Rhodes Scholars, Go1 serves millions of learners across thousands of enterprises globally.

Benchling is a cloud-based life sciences R&D platform that helps biotech and pharmaceutical companies manage experiments, track data, and accelerate research and development. The platform replaces physical lab notebooks and spreadsheets with collaborative, AI-ready digital tools used by over 1,200 customers worldwide.

All-in-one operations and technology partner for independent food and beverage businesses, providing supply chain management, mobile ordering, and AI-powered tools. Odeko serves over 14,000 independent F&B businesses across the United States.

Amplitude is a product analytics platform that helps companies understand user behavior to build better digital products. Originally incubated at Y Combinator (W12) as a voice-to-text app called Sonalight, the founders pivoted to analytics after realizing the internal tools they built were more valuable than the app itself. The company pioneered the product intelligence category and went public via direct listing on NASDAQ in September 2021.

Visual web development platform that lets designers and developers build professional, custom websites without writing code, generating clean HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in real time. Bootstrapped for five years before raising venture capital.

Search-as-a-service platform that provides hosted APIs enabling developers to build fast, relevant search and discovery experiences across websites and applications.

Alpaca provides brokerage API and trading infrastructure that enables fintech companies and developers to build stock and crypto trading experiences into their applications.

ShipBob is a global e-commerce fulfillment and logistics platform that provides small and medium-sized businesses with Amazon-level supply chain capabilities. The company operates a network of fulfillment centers across the US, UK, EU, Canada, and Australia, offering warehousing, picking, packing, and shipping services powered by proprietary software.

Technology-driven insurance brokerage that provides business insurance, employee benefits, and risk management services. Founded by former Opendoor and LinkedIn employees, Newfront combines software automation with deep insurance expertise to modernize how middle-market businesses purchase and manage commercial insurance.

Sleep technology company that develops AI-powered smart mattress covers with embedded sensors for temperature regulation, sleep tracking, and personalized health insights. The Pod mattress cover uses machine learning to optimize sleep quality by adjusting bed temperature throughout the night.

Product analytics platform that helps teams understand user behavior by tracking event-based interactions across web and mobile applications. Customers include OpenAI, Netflix, Uber, and Pinterest.

Mobile gaming company best known for Game of War: Fire Age, Mobile Strike, and Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire, which collectively generated over $5 billion in revenue. Originally founded as Addmired and a Y Combinator W08 graduate, the company pioneered real-time massively multiplayer mobile gaming.

Digital experience optimization platform providing A/B testing, experimentation, and personalization tools for websites, mobile apps, and connected devices. Co-founded by two former Google product managers who worked on the Obama 2008 campaign's digital optimization. Acquired by Episerver (now Optimizely) in 2020.

Nowports is the first and largest digital freight forwarder in Latin America, combining logistics with financial and technological tools to ship cargo efficiently, transparently, and securely. The company offers air, maritime, and ground transport, cargo insurance, GPS tracking, and a digital platform for document management and real-time shipment tracking. Founded in Monterrey, Mexico, Nowports graduated from Y Combinator (W19) and reached unicorn status in 2022 at a $1.1B valuation. The company operates in 10+ countries across Latin America.

Heap is a digital insights platform that automatically captures every user interaction on websites and mobile apps, including clicks, taps, swipes, form submissions, and page views, without requiring manual tracking code. Unlike traditional analytics tools that require engineers to instrument events upfront, Heap retroactively analyzes user behavior from day one. The platform served over 10,000 companies including Twilio, Zendesk, and Liberty Mutual. Acquired by Contentsquare in December 2023.

Canadian wearable technology company, originally founded as Thalmic Labs. First gained attention with the Myo gesture control armband, which used electromyography sensors to translate arm muscle activity into computer input (named one of Time Magazine's top inventions). Rebranded to North in 2018 and pivoted to Focals, everyday smart glasses with holographic display and Alexa integration. YC W13. Acquired by Google/Alphabet in June 2020 for a reported $180M.

Mux provides video infrastructure for developers through an API-first platform. Its core products are Mux Video (encoding, storage, and streaming) and Mux Data (quality-of-experience analytics monitoring billions of streams).

Cloud-based incident management and digital operations platform that helps IT teams detect, triage, and resolve infrastructure and application issues in real time through intelligent alerting, on-call scheduling, and automated response orchestration.

Teleport is the infrastructure identity company, providing on-demand, least-privileged access to infrastructure on a foundation of cryptographic identity and zero trust. The platform integrates access management, zero trust networking, and identity security into a single solution, replacing passwords and secrets with true identity for engineers and services. Previously known as Gravitational, the company was founded by the Mailgun team (YC W11, acquired by Rackspace).

Financial technology marketplace connecting consumers with financial advisors and providing free, automated tools for home buying, retirement planning, taxes, and investing. Reaches over 75 million people monthly through educational content and personalized calculators.

Rigetti Computing is a full-stack quantum computing company that designs and fabricates superconducting quantum processors, integrates them into quantum computers, and delivers access through its Quantum Cloud Services platform. The company operates the world's first dedicated quantum chip foundry.

All-in-one customer communication and payments platform for small and medium-sized healthcare businesses, serving dental, optometry, veterinary, and medical practices.

Customer loyalty, marketing automation, and payments platform for small and medium-sized businesses. Fivestars replaced paper punch cards with digital loyalty programs, serving over 12,000 local businesses with 70 million consumer members, processing $3B in annual sales. Founded by two ex-McKinsey consultants who saw that large companies spent millions on loyalty programs while small businesses were completely underserved.

Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that developed novel oral antiviral therapeutics targeting COVID-19. Went public via SPAC merger in 2021 before being acquired by MediPacific (a Foresite Capital affiliate) in 2023 after its lead candidate failed Phase 2 trials.

Moxion Power manufactured mobile energy storage products that enabled last-mile electrification across industries including construction, transportation, events, entertainment, film production, and telecommunications. The company offered zero-emission portable battery generators designed to replace traditional diesel generators, providing clean, quiet, and dependable temporary power. Founded in 2020 after co-founders Paul Huelskamp and Alex Meek witnessed diesel generators polluting their Mill Valley neighborhood during the 2019 California wildfire season. Moxion's units delivered 75 kilowatts of power and over 600 kilowatt-hours of energy. The company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in August 2024 after investor funding fell through.

Lever is a talent acquisition suite that combines applicant tracking (ATS) and candidate relationship management (CRM) into a single platform. The company helps organizations source, nurture, interview, and hire talent through a collaborative, data-driven approach. Lever served over 4,000 customers including Netflix, Atlassian, KPMG, and Spotify.

Telehealth platform providing accessible and affordable healthcare with prescriptions delivered to patients' doors. Started with birth control and PrEP (HIV prevention), then expanded to STI testing, HPV screening, herpes treatment, migraine care, and dermatology. At its peak, Nurx served over 750,000 active patients. Founded by two Norwegian high school classmates who saw how difficult it was to access basic reproductive healthcare.

Fly.io is a developer-focused public cloud platform that runs full-stack applications and databases close to end users using Firecracker micro-VMs. The platform distributes containerized apps to servers across 30+ regions worldwide, providing low-latency performance without the complexity of traditional multi-region deployments.

Data infrastructure company for physical AI. AI-native platform manages, curates, annotates, and aligns multimodal data for systems powering robots, autonomous vehicles, and drones. Serves 300+ AI teams including Toyota Woven, Skydio, and AXA. Platform grew from 1 to 5+ petabytes of data in 12 months, with physical AI customer revenue growing 10x.

Scribd is a digital reading subscription platform providing unlimited access to books, audiobooks, magazines, documents, and podcasts. Originally launched as a document-sharing platform dubbed "the YouTube for documents," the company pivoted to a subscription content model and now operates three products: Everand (book/audiobook subscriptions), Scribd (user-uploaded documents), and SlideShare (presentations, acquired from LinkedIn in 2020).

AI and automation technology provider for the restaurant industry. Originally built tabletop tablets for ordering and payment at sit-down restaurants under the name E la Carte. Pivoted to drive-thru Voice AI for quick-service restaurants. Went public via SPAC in 2022, then went through financial distress and was reborn as Presto Phoenix in 2025.

Trader-first sports prediction market that eliminates the traditional sportsbook model by enabling peer-to-peer trading on sports outcomes. The platform offers commission-free trading, full transparency, and better pricing. A Y Combinator alumnus, Novig has achieved $4B+ in annualized trading volume and has applied to the CFTC to become a federally regulated exchange available in all 50 states.

Clipboard Health is a healthcare staffing marketplace that connects independent healthcare professionals, including nurses, CNAs, medical assistants, and other allied health workers, with open shifts at healthcare facilities. The platform enables healthcare workers to choose when and where they work, while helping facilities fill critical staffing gaps. Part of Y Combinator's W17 batch, the company has grown to serve thousands of facilities across 30+ U.S. cities, reached $100M in annual revenue within three years, and has been profitable since 2022.

Panorama Education is a K-12 data analytics platform that helps school districts collect and act on survey data about social-emotional learning, school climate, and student outcomes. Trusted by 2,000+ districts serving 15 million students across all 50 states, the company provides research-backed surveys and analytics tools for educators.

Personal finance app that helps users manage subscriptions, negotiate bills, track spending, and automate savings. Founded by three brothers, it was acquired by Rocket Companies for $1.275 billion in 2021 and rebranded as Rocket Money in 2022.

Interactive online coding education platform offering free and premium courses in programming languages including Python, JavaScript, SQL, and more. Grew to over 50 million learners worldwide before being acquired by Skillsoft in 2022 for $525 million.

Substack is a publishing platform that enables writers, journalists, and creators to publish subscription newsletters, podcasts, and other media directly to their audiences. The platform handles payments, distribution, and website hosting, allowing creators to monetize their work through paid subscriptions while retaining ownership of their content and subscriber lists.

Online payments platform that provided integrated payment processing APIs for platform businesses, marketplaces, and crowdfunding sites. Founded after co-founder Rich Aberman struggled to collect money for a bachelor party, WePay was acquired by JPMorgan Chase in 2017 and operates as part of Chase Payment Solutions.

Clinical-stage precision oncology company that built a proprietary Predictive Precision Medicines Platform (PPMP) to bio-simulate cancer treatments and predict patient response. Originally tested combinations of FDA-approved drugs on patient cancer cell samples for blood cancers. Demonstrated 84% accuracy in predicting treatment responses with Stanford.

Construction productivity software that digitized blueprints and project documents for mobile access on job sites, enabling real-time collaboration across construction teams. Acquired by Autodesk for $875 million in 2018.

Privacy-first digital identity platform that used Bluetooth Low Energy to replace physical keys, cards, and badges. A smartphone emitted an identity signal picked up by sensors on doors, elevators, and turnstiles, functioning as a universal single sign-on for the physical world.

AI-native revenue enablement platform bringing deal-level intelligence to sales and revenue teams. Dynamically generates personalized enablement and coaching based on live deal context. Trusted by global enterprises including Lenovo, Adobe, Novo Nordisk, Plaid, RingCentral, and SolarWinds.

AI-native B2B customer support platform providing omnichannel support across Slack Connect, Microsoft Teams, email, in-app chat, and ticket forms. Features AI-powered ticketing, knowledge base, AI agents, and workflow automation. Modern alternative to Zendesk and Intercom for B2B companies.

CoreOS developed Container Linux, a lightweight Linux-based operating system designed for massive server deployments, along with key container infrastructure tools including etcd, rkt, and the Tectonic Kubernetes platform. Founded through Y Combinator (S13), the company built open source infrastructure to enable Google-scale operations for any organization. CoreOS was a founding member of both the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) and the Open Container Initiative (OCI). Acquired by Red Hat in January 2018 for $250 million.

AI-native commercial insurance brokerage automating the insurance buying process for mid-sized businesses. The platform matches buyers to over 160 carriers across workers' compensation, general liability, professional liability, cyber, commercial auto, and bonds, using AI to route quotes, handle documents, and manage underwriter follow-ups. Serves 6,000+ customers across 35 states with a 98.78% retention rate.

Weebly is a website creation platform that provides drag-and-drop tools, customizable templates, e-commerce features, and hosting, enabling anyone to build a professional website, online store, or blog without coding knowledge. Founded in 2006 by three Penn State University students, Weebly pioneered the drag-and-drop website builder space during Y Combinator's W07 batch. The platform grew to power over 50 million websites globally with more than 625,000 paid subscribers across 175+ countries. Acquired by Square (now Block, Inc.) in 2018 for $365 million.

Cloud-based medical platform offering all-in-one EHR, practice management, medical billing, and telehealth solutions. Built as the first EHR designed for iPad. Served 4,600+ independent practices and 13,000+ providers across medical specialties, managing 17.8M+ patients and $11B+ in medical billings. Apple Mobility Partner. Acquired by EverCommerce for $180M in November 2021.

Commercial space infrastructure company offering in-space transportation and last-mile delivery services for satellites using water plasma propulsion technology. Went public via SPAC merger in 2021, though the deal was marred by SEC enforcement actions over misleading disclosures related to its Russian-born founders.

AI-powered procurement platform that deploys autonomous agents to handle enterprise purchasing workflows. Automates vendor sourcing, negotiation, and purchase order management. Graduate of Y Combinator Summer 2023 batch.

Scentbird is a direct-to-consumer fragrance subscription service that lets members try designer and niche perfumes and colognes for a monthly fee. Subscribers receive a 30-day supply (8ml vial) from a catalog of 600+ fragrances. Founded in 2014 and backed by Y Combinator (S15 batch), the company grew from 400 subscribers at its seed stage to over 500,000. Scentbird also operates sub-brands including Deck of Scarlet (makeup), Confessions of a Rebel (gender-inclusive fragrance), and Goodhabit (skincare).

Women's health company that made fertility hormone testing accessible and affordable through at-home testing kits. The flagship product measured up to 10 fertility hormones via a simple finger-prick, providing personalized reports and fertility timelines. Expanded into ovulation tracking kits, pregnancy tests, and prenatal vitamins. Founded by a former 23andMe product lead after a personal health scare revealed the gap in accessible fertility information.

Digital wealth management platform that provided automated, algorithm-driven investment advisory services to everyday investors. The platform analyzed retirement and brokerage accounts, recommended ways to reduce fees, maximize tax efficiency, and select the right investments. One of the early robo-advisors.

Femtech wellness company that designs fashionable health-tracking wearables and a subscription wellness service for women. Products including Leaf, Ivy, and Time track cycle, sleep, activity, stress, and reproductive health. Participated in Y Combinator W14, voted most likely to succeed by its cohort.

Social gaming company best known for Draw Something, a viral mobile drawing game that reached 50M downloads in 50 days and was downloaded over 200M times. Originally launched as iminlikewithyou in 2006, combining social networking with Flash-based browser games. Produced 37 games on a real-time multiplayer platform. Acquired by Zynga for $180M ($210M with earnout) in March 2012, then shut down in June 2013.

Application Security Management platform providing real-time protection for web applications. Sqreen embedded lightweight agents inside applications to detect and block attacks without traffic redirection, offering Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP), in-app WAF, and account takeover protection. Founded by two former Apple Red Team members who spent a decade hacking Apple's own products to find vulnerabilities.

E-signature and document workflow platform enabling businesses to send, sign, and manage legally binding documents online. Served over 80,000 customers including Intuit, Lyft, and Samsung before being acquired by Dropbox for $230 million in 2019. Now operates as Dropbox Sign.

Sendwave is a mobile remittance app enabling instant, low-cost money transfers from the US, UK, Canada, and Europe to countries across East and West Africa and Asia. The company pioneered direct-to-mobile money transfers, allowing users to send money from their smartphone with minimal fees. Founded by Drew Durbin and Lincoln Quirk after meeting as freshman hallmates at Brown University, the company participated in Y Combinator's W12 batch. By 2020, Sendwave was facilitating billions of dollars in annual transfers. Acquired by WorldRemit (now Zepz) in February 2021 for approximately $500 million.

Direct-to-consumer women's intimates and shapewear brand. Honeylove's flagship Sculptwear line uses supportive structures in seams and patent-pending BoostBands to accentuate natural curves rather than flatten them. Products span shapewear, bras, clothing, pajamas, and activewear, priced at $60-$100. Available on honeylove.com and in Nordstrom, Dillard's, and Von Maur stores. Founded by EDM artist Betsie Larkin after frustration with shapewear malfunctioning during live performances.

Cloud platform as a service (PaaS) that enables developers to build, run, and manage applications entirely in the cloud. One of the first PaaS platforms, originally focused on Ruby on Rails applications. Pioneered the developer-first cloud deployment model.

Builds AI-powered smart shopping carts and checkout counters for grocery and retail stores. Using computer vision, sensor fusion, and machine learning trained on over 20 million product images, Caper's hardware lets shoppers scan items as they add them to the cart and self-checkout without a cashier.

Developer productivity analytics platform that connected to code repositories (GitHub, Bitbucket, GitLab) and transformed commit data into reports and visualizations for engineering leaders. The platform analyzed codebases, ticketing systems, and pull requests to provide visibility into team velocity and bottlenecks.

Paystack is a Nigerian fintech company that provides modern payments infrastructure for Africa, enabling businesses to accept payments via credit card, debit card, money transfer, and mobile money through a simple API integration.

Oklo is an advanced nuclear technology company designing and deploying next-generation fast fission power plants. The company's Aurora powerhouse uses metal-fueled fast reactor technology to generate clean energy, while also pioneering nuclear fuel recycling.

Workflow automation platform that connects over 7,000 apps, enabling users and businesses to automate repetitive tasks without code. One of the most capital-efficient companies in tech history, reaching a $5B valuation on just $2.7M in primary funding.

Identity verification and compliance platform (formerly BlockScore). Used phone numbers to verify real-world identity including name, DOB, address, and SSN. Originally built for crypto compliance, later pivoted to a phone-first verification approach that achieved 2,000% more traction. Acquired by Plaid in January 2022 for a reported $250M.