Y

Y Combinator

VC
US-SFWebsite

Y Combinator is a Pre-Seed, Seed venture capital firm based in US-SF investing in Other, Deep Tech, Consumer. The firm typically writes $125K–$500K checks and has 21 portfolio companies in our records.

Stage

Pre-Seed, Seed

Check Size

$125K – $500K

AUM

$3.2B

Portfolio

21+ companies

Team

10 partners

Investor activity
Last known investment: 2019Investments in last 12 months: 0

Investment Thesis

Make something people want. The startup accelerator that launched Airbnb, Stripe, and more.

How Y Combinator invests

Y Combinator is a vc firm based in US-SF. The firm invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed stages, with a focus on Other, Deep Tech, Consumer, Enterprise.

Y Combinator typically writes checks of $125K–$500K per investment, backed by approximately $3.2B in assets under management.

Investing since at least 2005, Y Combinator has backed 21 companies in our records, including Kalshi, Replit, Scale AI. Its most recent recorded investment was in 2019.

Meet the Team

DS

Derek Saylor

Head of Department

BF

Brad Flora

Partner

CC

Celia Cheung

Finance Director

PG

Paul Graham

Founder

SW

Shaun Weber

Tax Director

EB

Eli Brown

Partner

TB

Tyler Bosmeny

Partner

AG

Ankit Gupta

General Partner

PK

Pete Koomen

Partner

GT

Garry Tan

CEO

All Sectors

Industry Focus

Invests In

Other
Deep Tech
Consumer
Enterprise

Portfolio Companies (21)

2019

KA

Kalshi

Kalshi reached an $11B valuation in 2025.

2018

RE

Replit

Replit became a leading AI coding platform valued at over $3B.

2016

SC

Scale AI

In 2025, Meta acquired 49% of Scale for over $14B.

2014

GI

GitLab

GitLab went public in 2021 at an $11B valuation.

2013

DO

DoorDash

DoorDash went public in 2020 at a valuation of $39B.

2012

IN

Instacart

Instacart went public in 2023 at a $10B valuation.

CO

Coinbase

Coinbase went public in 2021 at a $86B valuation.

2010

ST

Stripe

Fintech·Seed

"Payment infrastructure"

2009

AI

Airbnb

Consumer·Seed

"Home-sharing marketplace"

2007

TW

Twitch

Twitch was acquired by Amazon for nearly $1B.

How to pitch Y Combinator
  • Raising at Pre-Seed, Seed? You're squarely in their sweet spot.
  • Lead with your fit in Other, Deep Tech, Consumer — the sectors they actively back.
  • Size your ask to their typical $125K – $500K check.
  • Address your outreach to a specific partner, such as Derek Saylor, Head of Department.
  • A warm introduction beats a cold email. Get matched and request an intro.

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