Rent the Backyard wants to build a studio apartment in your yard
Rent the Backyard is one of the rare startups with a name that perfectly suits what it does. The company, which is part of Y Combinator’s current batch, builds studio… Read more »
Category: Y Combinator
GetAccept’s workflow and e-signature platform for sales secures $7M Series A funding
Many years ago every sales deal was sealed with a handshake between two people. Today, digitization has moved into the sales process, but it hasn’t necessarily improved the experience. In… Read more »
Y Combinator-backed Project Wren is aiming to make carbon offsets more consumer friendly
When Landon Brand and Benjamin Stansfield graduated from the University of Southern California this year, they already had the plans for Project Wren, their service for selling carbon offsets to… Read more »
Only 2% of genomic material available for research comes from Africa, 54gene wants to change that
New advances in genetic mapping and manipulation hold the promise of reshaping medical treatments in the 21st century, but thanks to a lack of sufficient infrastructure and apparent scientific disregard,… Read more »
Nowports raises $5.3 million to become Latin America’s digital shipping answer to Flexport
Nowports, a developer of software and services to track freight shipments from ports to destinations across Latin America, has aims to become the regional answer to Flexport’s billion dollar digital… Read more »
Less than 1 year after launching its corporate card for startups, Brex eyes $2B valuation
Brex, the fintech business that’s taken the startup world by storm with its sought after corporate card tailored for entrepreneurs, is raising millions in Series D funding less than a… Read more »
Fundraising 101: How to trigger FOMO among VCs
Let’s go beyond the high-level fundraising advice that fills VC blogs. If you have a compelling business and have educated yourself on crafting a pitch deck and getting warm intros… Read more »
Africa Roundup: Jumia files for IPO, OneFi acquires Amplify, FlexClub expands in Mexico
Less than a decade ago IPOs, acquisitions, and global expansion by African startups were more possibility than reality. March saw all three from the continent’s tech scene. Pan-African e-commerce company… Read more »
Crypto 2.0, accessibility, and Apple’s future strategy
From Extra Crunch Jon Evans has a comprehensive look at the most compelling futures for “Crypto 2.0.” With the trading frenzy out of the way (at least for the time… Read more »
Meet the Texas startup that wants to decarbonize the chemical industry
Solugen, a startup that has set itself up with no less lofty a goal than the decarbonization of a massive chunk of the petrochemical industry, may be the first legitimate… Read more »
Startups Weekly: A much-needed unicorn IPO update
As I’m sure everyone reading this knows, female-founded businesses receive just over 2 percent of venture capital on an annual basis. Most of those checks are written to early-stage startups…. Read more »
What’s the cost of buying users from Facebook and 13 other ad networks?
Julian Shapiro Contributor Share on Twitter Julian Shapiro is the founder of BellCurve.com, a growth marketing agency that trains you to become a marketing professional. He also writes at Julian.com…. Read more »
To fund Y Combinator’s top startups, VCs scoop them before Demo Day
Hundreds gathered this week at San Francisco’s Pier 48 to see the more than 200 companies in Y Combinator’s Winter 2019 cohort present their two-minute pitches. The audience of venture… Read more »
Gig workers need health & benefits — Catch is their safety net
One of the hottest Y Combinator startups just raised a big seed round to clean up the mess created by Uber, Postmates and the gig economy. Catch sells health insurance,… Read more »
Launching from YC, Eclipse Foods casts a long shadow over the $336 billion dairy industry
Eclipse Foods may be the company that finally takes milk out of the dairy business. Ever since the acquisition of WhiteWave Foods by the French dairy giant Danone for over… Read more »
Here are the 85+ startups that launched today at Y Combinator’s W19 Demo Day 1
Y Combinator’s incubator classes have gotten huge. With over 200 companies, the Winter 2019 class is by far YC’s largest yet. Meanwhile, the incubator prepares to shift its headquarters from… Read more »
WorkClout brings SaaS to factory floor to increase operational efficiency
Factory software tools are often out of reach of small manufacturers, forcing them to operate with inefficient manual systems. WorkClout, a member of the Y Combinator Winter 2019 class, wants… Read more »
Doorport wants to make your apartment building’s front door smarter
If you live in a big city, you’ve probably had your fair share of battles with apartment intercom systems. Those electronic gatekeepers with their tiny screens, sticky buttons, and seemingly… Read more »
Vectordash’s cloud gaming service brings crypto-miners a new revenue stream
PC gaming has grown to be a pretty wide niche of people with some far-flung similarities and differences, one thing they all share are souped-up rigs that rely on beefy… Read more »
Equity transcribed: Uber IPO, Stash’s raise and more YC movement
Welcome back to this week’s transcribed edition of Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast that unpacks the numbers behind the headlines. We’re running an experiment for Extra Crunch members that puts… Read more »
This YC-backed startup preps Chinese students for US data jobs
In recent years, data analysts have gone from optional to a career that holds great promise, but demand for quantitative skills applied in business decisions has raced ahead of supply… Read more »
Startups Weekly: Uber’s headline-grabbing week and sextech at SXSW
I spent the week at SXSW, Austin’s really, really huge technology, music, comedy and film festival. It’s my first year making the trek down here for the event, which I… Read more »
XGenomes is bringing DNA sequencing to the masses
As healthcare moves toward genetically tailored treatments, one of the biggest hurdles to truly personalized medicine is the lack of fast, low-cost genetic testing. And few people are more familiar… Read more »
Shiok Meats takes the cultured meat revolution to the seafood aisle with plans for cultured shrimp
Rising consumer interest in alternative proteins and meat replacements has brought hundreds of millions of dollars to companies trying to grow or replace beef or chicken, but few companies have… Read more »
Portal automatically opens doors for wheelchair users, no button pressing required
Buttons or plates (like the one above) that automatically open doors can do a lot to make a building more accessible, but they aren’t always a perfect solution. For wheelchair… Read more »
Ysplit wants to make it so you never owe your friends money again
When you live with roommates or go out often with friends, it’s common for someone to front the payment — be that for utilities, the cable bill, rent or the… Read more »
Did Sam Altman make YC better or worse?
Y Combinator revealed yesterday that its president, Sam Altman, is stepping down from his role to become the accelerator program’s chairman. This change, said YC, will allow Altman to “spend… Read more »
Startups Weekly: What’s up with YC? Plus, mobility layoffs and Airbnb’s grand plans
Where to begin… Netflix darling Marie Kondo is hitting up Sand Hill Road in search of $40 million to fund an ecommerce platform, Y Combinator is giving $150,000 to a… Read more »
Which types of startups are most often profitable?
Julian Shapiro Contributor Share on Twitter Julian Shapiro is the founder of BellCurve.com, a growth marketing agency that trains you to become a marketing professional. He also writes at Julian.com…. Read more »
Y Combinator president Sam Altman is stepping down amid a series of changes at the accelerator
Sam Altman, the well-known president of the prolific Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator, is stepping down, the firm shared in a blog post on Friday. Altman is transitioning into a… Read more »