Y Combinator Team at Y Combinator, Mountain View, California, United States — verified investor profile. See sector focus, stage focus and contact routes.
Y Combinator is a US-based startup accelerator founded in 2005 by Paul Graham, Robert Morris, Trevor Blackwell, and Jessica Livingston to help early-stage companies launch through mentorship, funding, and network access[1][5]. The firm invests primarily at the seed stage across diverse sectors including FinTech, Artificial Intelligence, E-commerce, Healthcare, SpaceTech, and GovTech, with no strict geographic limitation beyond its Silicon Valley program base[1][5]. It offers a standardized $500,000 investment per company—$125,000 for 7% equity plus a $375,000 uncapped SAFE—and typically acts as the initial lead investor before startups pitch to venture capitalists at Demo Day[3][5][9]. Notable portfolio companies include Airbnb, Dropbox, Stripe, and Reddit, which collectively helped YC fund over 5,000 companies with a combined valuation of $800 billion as of 2025[5][7]. A distinctive aspect of Y Combinator’s approach is its emphasis on team dynamics over founder credentials, as research shows observable backgrounds explain less than 4% of funding variation among its startups[10]. The organization also maintains public writing through its FAQ and founder essays, notably clarifying t
Every field above is read from the StartupFundraising investor directory — disclosed location, recorded investments and stated focus — and re-checked as filings arrive. Founders pair it with investors in Mountain View when building a target list.
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