Y Combinator — Pre-Seed & Seed VC Firm ($125K–$500K Checks)
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 19 portfolio companies in our records.
- Check size
- $125K–$500K
- Portfolio
- 19 companies on record
- Partners
- 10 listed
- AUM
- $3.2B
- Stage
- Pre-Seed, Seed
- Sectors
- Other, Deep Tech, Consumer, Enterprise
- HQ
- US-SF
Last verified: 2026-06-14
Pre-Seed, Seed
$125K – $500K
$3.2B
19+ companies
10 partners
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 19 companies in our records, including Kalshi, Replit, Scale AI. Its most recent recorded investment was in 2019.
Partners & Team
Industry Focus
Invests In
Portfolio Companies (19)
2019
Kalshi
Kalshi reached an $11B valuation in 2025.
2018
Replit
Replit became a leading AI coding platform valued at over $3B.
2016
Scale AI
In 2025, Meta acquired 49% of Scale for over $14B.
2014
GitLab
GitLab went public in 2021 at an $11B valuation.
2013
DoorDash
DoorDash went public in 2020 at a valuation of $39B.
2012
Instacart
Instacart went public in 2023 at a $10B valuation.
Coinbase
Coinbase went public in 2021 at a $86B valuation.
2010
Stripe
"Payment infrastructure"
2009
Airbnb
"Home-sharing marketplace"
2007
Dropbox
"Cloud storage for teams"
- •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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