Y Combinator Company and Founder Data via API
Search the YC company directory, extract founder profiles, and access batch data. Three endpoints for startup intelligence. Structured JSON responses.
YC's Directory Is a Gold Mine Without a Pickaxe
Y Combinator's public company directory contains data on 4,000+ startups: what they do, who founded them, what batch they were in, their current status, and contact information. For VCs, sales teams targeting startups, and market researchers, this is a valuable dataset.
But Y Combinator doesn't offer an API. The directory is browse-only. Extracting structured data means either manual copying or building a custom scraper against a site that changes its frontend regularly. For anyone who needs YC company data in a database, spreadsheet, or CRM, the manual approach is the only approach.
Three Endpoints for YC Startup Data
Company Search
Search the YC directory by keyword, industry, or batch. Returns company profiles with descriptions, founding year, team size, and status.
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
query |
string | Yes | Search keywords |
batch |
string | No | YC batch (e.g., "W24", "S23") |
industry |
string | No | Industry filter |
count |
integer | No | Number of results |
Company Data
Full company profile: description, founders, batch, status (active/acquired/dead), website, social links, team size, and location.
Founder Search
Search for YC founders by name or keyword. Returns founder profiles with their company associations, batch information, and LinkedIn profiles.
Code Examples
import requests API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY" BASE = "https://api.anysite.io" headers = {"access-token": API_KEY} # Search for AI startups from recent batches ai_startups = requests.post( f"{BASE}/api/yc/search/companies", headers=headers, json={ "query": "AI infrastructure", "batch": "W24", "count": 25 } ).json() for company in ai_startups["results"]: print(f"{company['name']} ({company['batch']})") print(f" {company['description'][:100]}") print(f" Status: {company['status']}")
# Search YC companies anysite api /api/yc/search/companies query="AI" batch=W24 count=25 # Search founders anysite api /api/yc/search/founders query="data infrastructure" # Batch: research all companies from a specific batch anysite api /api/yc/search/companies batch=S23 count=100
Use Cases
VC Deal Sourcing
Search YC batches for companies matching your investment thesis. Filter by industry and batch to find newly launched startups in your target sectors. Combine with LinkedIn company data for employee growth signals and SEC data for companies that have gone public.
Sales Targeting Startups
Build prospect lists of YC-backed companies in your target market. These companies are well-funded, growth-oriented, and actively building their tech stack. Extract founder data for direct outreach.
Market Research and Trend Analysis
Analyze YC batch compositions over time to identify emerging trends. Track which industries YC is investing in, how batch sizes are changing, and what types of companies are getting accepted.
Competitive Intelligence
If your competitors are YC-backed, track their company profiles for updates on team size, status changes, and strategic direction signals.
Endpoint Pricing
Pay only for the data you pull. Credits are shared across all Anysite endpoints.
| Endpoint | Credit Cost |
|---|---|
| Company Search | 1 credit |
| Company Data | 1 credit |
| Founder Search | 1 credit |
All three endpoints cost 1 credit per request. Researching the entire W24 batch (100+ companies) costs approximately 100 credits, or about $0.33 on the Starter plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
batch parameter (e.g., "W24", "S23") to filter search results to a specific YC batch.Related Endpoints
Start Researching YC Companies
7-day free trial with 1,000 credits. Company search, founder data, batch information. Structured JSON.