Explore 5,773+ Y Combinator companies with powerful search, interactive maps, AI-powered company intelligence, hiring insights, funding data, and batch analytics. Find co-founders, validate startup ideas, and discover patterns across 20 years of YC history.
This is the 2nd launch from ExploreYC . View more
ExploreYC
Launched this week
One open-source API for startup data across Y Combinator AND a16z - 6,600+ companies with funding, stage, IPO/M&A exits, and founders. Filter by VC (yc/a16z/all), batch, industry, country, or search. Grab a free API key, read the docs (curl/Node/Python + Swagger), and build in 30 seconds. Plus the full web app: map, analytics, funding data, a live hiring board, and AI tools.
Free
Launch Team
An open-source API across YC + a16z with a 30-second free key is exactly the data layer I would rather hit than scrape and babysit myself for founder/sourcing research. The one thing I would test first: how fresh is the funding/exit/hiring data, is it re-crawled on a schedule (and roughly how often), or is a chunk of it a static snapshot from launch that drifts over time? And what are the rate limits on the free key before I would need to self-host the open-source side?
going from web app to a real API is the right move, that was always going to be the limiting factor for anyone who wanted to build something on top of the data instead of just browsing it. adding a16z alongside YC is a nice bonus too, cross-referencing overlap between the two portfolios could surface some interesting patterns. how fresh is the data kept, is it a scheduled scrape or closer to real time when a company updates their info
I like that you exposed the same dataset as an API instead of only a UI — the `source=yc|a16z|all` filter is the bit I'd probably reach for first. Curious if rate limits are per key only, or also per endpoint when people build public dashboards?
i tested the filtering options and they saved plenty of time while searching for startups in specific industries. would adding historical funding snapshots help researchers track how companies evolve different years and stages?
Spent way too long doing this manually with YC's directory and a bunch
of half-remembered LinkedIn searches. Having search, funding data, and
hiring boards actually talk to each other in one place is such an
obvious upgrade once you see it.
Open-sourcing the API for YC and a16z data is an interesting positioning move, most tools in this space keep the data layer proprietary. Curious what the actual business model is if the API is free and open-source, does the web app and AI tools layer carry the monetization or is there something else going on?