the company named y combinator . for the combinator called y in the theory of computation see fixed point combinator fixed point combinators in lambda calculus . this article relies too much on references to primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . february 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message y combinator type limited liability company industry venture capital founded march 2005 founder paul graham jessica livingston robert morris trevor blackwell headquarters mountain view california united states number of locations 2 offices 2014 key people paul graham jessica livingston robert morris trevor blackwell sam altman paul buchheit dalton caldwell kate courteau jared friedman kevin hale aaron harris justin kan carolynn levy jon levy kat manalac kirsty nathoo geoff ralston michael seibel qasar younis brian chesky adora cheung patrick collison drew houston david rusenko emmett shear ilya sukhar products investments website www.ycombinator.com paul graham talking about prototype day at y combinator summer 2009 y combinator is an american seed accelerator started in march 2005 . fast company has called yc the world s most powerful start up incubator . 1 fortune has called y combinator a spawning ground for emerging tech giants . 2 contents 1 programs 2 history 3 people 4 nonprofits 5 yc fellowship 6 yc research 7 see also 8 references 9 external links programs edit in its main program y combinator interviews and selects two batches of companies per year . the companies receive seed money advice and connections in exchange for 7 % equity . 3 the program includes office hours where startup founders meet individually and in groups with y combinator partners for advice . founders also participate in weekly dinners where guests from the silicon valley ecosystem successful entrepreneurs venture capitalists etc. speak to the founders . y combinator s motto is make something people want . 4 the program aims to focus the founders on further developing their product team and market refining their business model achieving product market fit and scaling the startup into a high growth business etc. the program culminates at demo day where startups present their business to a selected audience of investors . 5 as of 2016 y combinator had invested in 940 companies including dropbox airbnb coinbase stripe reddit zenefits buildzoom instacart twitch.tv machine zone weebly paribus chinese startup raven tech 6 and the combined market capitalization of yc companies was over 65b . 7 non profit organizations can also participate in the main yc program . 8 in 2015 yc introduced additional programs in july 2015 y combinator introduced the yc fellowship program aimed at companies at an earlier stage than the main program . 9 in october 2015 y combinator introduced the yc continuity fund . the fund allows y combinator to make pro rata investments in their alumni companies with valuations under 300 million . y combinator will also consider leading or participating in later stage growth financing rounds for yc companies . 10 in october 2015 yc introduced yc research to fund long term fundamental research . yc president sam altman donated 10m . 11 history edit y combinator was started in 2005 by paul graham jessica livingston trevor blackwell and robert tappan morris . 12 from 2005 to 2008 one program was held in cambridge massachusetts and one was held in mountain view california . in january 2009 y combinator announced that the cambridge program would be closed and all future programs would take place in silicon valley . 13 in 2009 sequoia capital led the 2 million investment round into an entity of y combinator which would allow the company to invest in approximately 60 companies a year as opposed to their previous 40 companies a year . 14 the following year sequoia led a 8.25 million funding round for y combinator to further increase the number of startups the company could fund . 15 then in 2011 yuri milner and sv angel offered every y combinator company a 150 000 convertible note investment . 16 the amount put in to each company was changed to 80 000 when start fund was renewed . 17 in september 2013 paul graham announced y combinator would fund nonprofit organizations accepted into its program after having tested the concept with watsi while continuing to fund mostly for profit startups . 18 in 2014 founder paul graham announced he was stepping down and that sam altman would take over as president of y combinator . 19 that same year altman announced the new deal for yc startups which offers 120 000 for 7 % equity . 20 late in 2014 sam altman announced a partnership with transcriptic to provide increased support for y combinator s growing community of biotech companies . 21 then in 2015 he announced a partnership with bolt and increased support for hardware companies . 22 on 11 august 2016 yc announced that yc partners will be visiting 11 countries this fall to meet with founders and learn more about how we can be helpful to international startup communities . these 11 countries are nigeria denmark portugal sweden germany russia argentina chile mexico israel and india . 23 24 in september 2016 y combinator announced shuffling the deck at the mountain view startup accelerator again with altman announcing that he will now be president of yc group which includes y combinator the yc continuity fund that was launched last october and the yc research moon shot program . ali rowghani twitter s former chief financial officer and chief operating officer who was put in charge of the yc continuity fund when it started is now ceo of yc continuity . michael seibel who co founded justin.tv is the new ceo of yc core the program that paul buchheit has run since earlier this year . 25 people edit y combinator was founded in march 2005 by paul graham and jessica livingston as well as robert morris and trevor blackwell with whom paul had previously co founded viaweb . in early 2010 harj taggar cofounder of y combinator funded auctomatic joined as an advisor . in september 2010 alexis ohanian co founder of y combinator backed reddit joined . 26 in november 2010 gmail creator paul buchheit and harj taggar were named partners . 27 in 2015 taggar left yc to start triplebyte a startup aiming to assist companies with their technical hiring needs . 28 in january 2011 y combinator backed posterous co founder garry tan joined yc first as designer in residence and later as partner . 29 later in 2011 aaron iba joined as a partner . 30 in the summer of 2014 sam altman became president of y combinator . 31 y combinator also announced a board of overseers brian chesky cofounder of airbnb adora cheung cofounder of homejoy patrick collison cofounder of stripe drew houston founder of dropbox jessica livingston david rusenko emmett shear and sam altman cofounder of loopt . in january 2015 it was announced that paul buchheit would be named managing partner for y combinator s core program and kevin hale would be the managing partner for the fellowship . 32 as of february 2015 additional y combinator partners are dalton caldwell founder of imeem and app.net ; jared friedman founder of scribd ; kevin hale cofounder of wufoo ; aaron harris cofounder of tutorspree ; justin kan cofounder of exec twitch.tv and justin.tv ; attorneys carolynn levy and jon levy ; kat manalac ; kirsty nathoo ; geoff ralston creator of rocketmail ; michael seibel cofounder of socialcam ; and qasar younis cofounder of talkbin . ali rowghani is the managing partner of yc continuity . 33 nonprofits edit in 2013 y combinator began accepting nonprofit organizations . notable y combinator backed nonprofits include watsi crowdfunding medical treatment in developing countries immunity project using machine learning to develop an hiv aids vaccine noora health empowering patient family caregivers to take better care of their loved ones at home caremessage using mobile technology to help improve health outcomes for underserved patients and zidisha direct person to person lending to developing countries . 34 yc fellowship edit the yc fellowship program was announced in july 2015 with the goal of funding companies at the idea or prototype stage . 9 the first batch of yc fellowship included 32 companies that received an equity free grant instead of an investment . 7 in january 2016 y combinator announced version 2 of the program with participating companies receiving 20k investment for an 1.5 % equity stake . the equity stake is structured as a convertible security that only converts into shares if a company has an ipo or a funding event or acquisition that values the company at 100m or more . 35 yc research edit yc research logo yc research was announced in october 2015 . it is a nonprofit research lab focused on work that requires a very long time horizon seeks to answer very open ended questions or develops technology that shouldn t be owned by any one company . researchers are paid as full time employees and can receive equity in y combinator . 11 36 37 openai was the first project undertaken by yc research and in january 2016 a second study on basic income was also announced . 38 see also edit hacker news list of y combinator startups references edit the y combinator chronicles . fast company . rao leena 2015 08 26 . meet y combinator s new coo . fortune . retrieved 2016 02 08 . altman sam . the new deal . retrieved 22 april 2014 . graham paul . be good . retrieved 8 february 2016 . graham paul . what happens at yc . retrieved 8 may 2013 . kumparak greg ; wilhelm alex ; russell kyle . here are the companies that presented at y combinator demo day 1 . techcrunch . retrieved 2016 03 18 . a b altman sam . yc stats . retrieved 26 august 2015 . http www.ycombinator.com nonprofits a b loizos connie . y combinator just introduced a new program to reach up to 1 000 companies per year . retrieved 21 july 2015 . altman sam . yc continuity . retrieved 8 february 2016 . a b yc research . y combinator posthaven . how y combinator started . paul graham . retrieved 2012 03 15 . california year round . y combinator . retrieved 2009 01 29 . y combinator gets the sequoia capital seal of approval . techcrunch . 2009 05 16 . retrieved 2011 02 10 . rao leena 21 may 2010 . y combinator closes new 8.25 million fund sequoia is lead investor . techcrunch.com . retrieved 22 june 2016 . start fund yuri milner sv angel offer every new y combinator startup 150k . retrieved 2011 01 28 . rao leena rao . y combinator s yc vc will replace the start fund ; includes yuri milner andreessen horowitz but offers less money . ken yeung 6 september 2013 . y combinator to fund non profit startups with charitable donations . the next web . retrieved 1 october 2014 . sam altman for president . y combinator . retrieved 2014 02 21 . the new deal . y combinator . retrieved 2014 04 22 . transcriptic for yc biotech startups . y combinator . retrieved 2016 02 08 . yc for hardware . y combinator . retrieved 2015 02 05 . manalac kat . yc office hours in 11 countries this fall . y combinator posthaven . retrieved 10 september 2016 . modgil shweta . ycombinator is coming to india this september ; here s why you should be excited . inc 42 . retrieved 10 september 2016 . http www.bizjournals.com sanjose blog techflash 2016 09 y combinator names new leaders as it changes shape.html . retrieved 19 september 2016 . missing or empty title help wednesday september 1st 2010 2010 09 01 . reddit