Y Combinator

Y Combinator says Google is a ‘monopolist’ that has ‘stunted’ the startup ecosystem

Startups /

Fabled startup investor and accelerator Y Combinator has some choice words for Google in an amicus brief it just submitted in the U.S.’s monopoly case against the search giant. In the brief, YC charged that Google is a “monopolist” that has “stunted” the U.S. startup ecosystem by making VC firms like itself hesitate to fund […]

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Techstars increases startup funding to $220,000, mirroring YC structure

Venture /

Techstars, a nearly 20-year-old startup accelerator, announced new terms for startups that enter its three-month program. The organization will now invest $220,000, which is $100,000 more than it offered previously, in companies starting with its fall 2025 batch. The capital will be divided into two components. The group is offering companies $20,000 in exchange for

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Defense tech Theseus landed Y Combinator, the US Special Forces and $4.3M from a tweet

Startups /

On February 18, 2024, Ian Laffey posted on X that he and two others he’d just met built a cheap drone at a hackathon that calculated its coordinates simply by using its camera and Google Maps. He and his colleagues, Sacha Lévy and Carl Schoeller, were all engineers under the age of 25. The tech

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Former Y Combinator president Geoff Ralston launches new AI ‘safety’ fund

AI /

Geoff Ralston, well-known in the startup community for his years at Y Combinator, is back in the formal investing ring, he announced Thursday. Ralston’s new new fund is called Safe Artificial Intelligence Fund or SAIF, which is both an explanation of its thesis and a play on words. Ralston is specifically looking for startups that

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YC-backed Taxo raises $5M to slash healthcare admin with its AI ‘reasoning engine’

Startups /

When British doctor Ahmed Kerwan began working as a physician, the paperwork burden shocked him. On some days, he would spend only three hours actually caring for patients, with the rest of his workday spent on things like dealing with insurance claims. There are already dozens, perhaps hundreds, of startups using AI to reduce the

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Browser Use, the tool making it easier for AI ‘agents’ to navigate websites, raises $17M

AI /

We may not have an agreed-upon definition of AI “agent” yet, but a multitude of startups want to create “agentic” tools to automate various tasks online. One such firm, Browser Use, has attracted a ton of interest from developers and investors thanks to its solution that makes websites more “readable” for AI agents. Browser Use

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YC-backed food supply startup Vendease restructures employees’ salaries

Startups /

Y Combinator-backed Nigerian food procurement startup Vendease has changed its employee pay structure and is seeking fresh capital, TechCrunch has learned. This is after laying off 44% of its workforce — around 120 employees —last month, marking its second round of job cuts in five months. In the latest development, the startup has now replaced

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Y Combinator’s police surveillance darling Flock Safety raises $275M at $7.5B valuation

Venture /

Flock Safety and one of its long-time VCs, Bedrock Capital, announced Thursday that the startup raised a fresh $275 million at a $7.5 billion valuation. Flock makes computer vision-enabled video surveillance technology used by law enforcement as well as businesses, property management companies, and so on. It’s best known for its automatic license plate recognition

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