Y Combinator Scraper: Startup Directory, Founders, Jobs & Launches

Y Combinator Scraper turns the YC startup directory into structured data. Get 50+ fields per company, including founders, social links, application details, open job postings, news mentions and Launch YC product launches. Filter across 14 dimensions in a form, or paste any /companies search or company URL straight from your browser, then export to JSON, CSV or Excel, or pull it through the API.

Why This Scraper?

• Deep company profiles. 50+ fields per company when detail fetching is on: founders with bio, title and social links, LinkedIn, Twitter, Crunchbase, GitHub and Facebook URLs, demo-day and application videos, application answers, photos, and the primary YC partner.
• Open roles and coverage. Job postings with title, location, salary range, equity range, visa notes and an apply URL, plus news mentions and Launch YC product launches.
• 14 filter dimensions. Free-text query, batch, industry, subindustry, region, tag, status, funding stage, hiring-only, top-ranked, nonprofit, and public-media flags, all combinable in one search.
• Two ways in. Build filters in the input form, or paste any /companies search or company URL copied from a browser (multiple URLs supported in one run).
• Streaming output. Each company is written to the dataset as soon as it's collected, so a stopped run still keeps everything found so far.
• Resumable at two levels. A killed or migrated run picks itself back up automatically without re-charging for companies already saved, and a brand-new run can continue a previous one by ID.
• Built for monitoring. Incremental mode tracks a saved search over time and labels each row new, updated, unchanged, reappeared or expired.

Use Cases

• Recruiting and talent sourcing: filter hiring companies by industry, region or stage and pull their open roles in one pass.
• Investor and market research: scan a batch or stage for company counts, industries and funding stage mix.
• Sales and partnership prospecting: build lead lists by industry, region or tag, with founder names and company sites.
• Founder benchmarking and competitive tracking: compare peer companies in the same subindustry or batch.
• Journalism and content: track Launch YC announcements and news mentions as they appear.
• Recurring monitoring: schedule a saved search and get only the companies that are new, changed, or newly listed since the last run.

Data You Get

Sample shape: values are illustrative placeholders, not from a live record.

Field	Example
id	12345
slug	"example-co"
name	"Example Co"
url	"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/example-co"
oneLiner	"One sentence company pitch."
website	"https://example.com"
batch	"W24"
batchName	"Winter 2024"
status	"Active"
stage	"Seed"
industry	"B2B"
tags	["SaaS", "AI"]
regions	["United States of America", "Remote"]
teamSize	8
yearFounded	2024
isHiring	true
topCompany	false
founders	[{fullName: "Founder Name", title: "CEO", bio: "Sample bio.", linkedinUrl: "...", twitterUrl: "...", isActive: true}]
founderCount	2
jobPostings (+ description, remote when Fetch full job descriptions is ON)	[{title: "Senior Engineer", location: "Remote", salaryRange: "...", equityRange: "...", visa: "Open to all", applyUrl: "..."}]
jobPostingCount	9
newsItems	[{title: "Article title", url: "...", date: "Jan 01, 2026"}]
launches	[{title: "Launch announcement title", body: "Body of the Launch YC post."}]
scrapedAt	"2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z"

Every company record also carries objectID, subindustry, industries (a list), allLocations, launchedAt, nonprofit, formerNames, logoUrl, smallLogoUrl, location, city, cityTag, country, linkedinUrl, twitterUrl, facebookUrl, crunchbaseUrl, githubUrl, demoDayVideoUrl, appVideoUrl, appAnswers, freeResponseAnswers, primaryGroupPartner, companyPhotos, hasAppVideo, hasDemoDayVideo, hasQuestionAnswers, jobsUrl, newsUrl, newsCount and launchCount. For companies found through a search or pasted search URL, a run with detail fetching turned off still fills in the search-facing fields (name, url, one-liner, batch, status, stage, industry, tags, regions, website), but leaves the social and video links, application answers, the primary partner, year founded and city as null, and founders, job postings, news items, launches and photos as empty lists (counts 0); turn detail fetching on to populate them. Pasted company URLs are loaded from the profile page only, so they never get stage, regions, industries or launchedAt, their isHiring and topCompany flags always read false, and with detail fetching off they carry little more than the slug.

How to Use

1. Pick a mode: search (build filters below) or url (paste one or more /companies links).
2. In search mode, set the filters you need. In URL mode, paste search links, company links, or a mix.

URL mode: supported URL shapes. Leaving urls untouched in URL mode now scrapes one example of each shape below (previously nothing was scraped by default); clear the list or paste your own URLs to narrow it.

Shape	Example	Behaviour
Search with batch filter	https://www.ycombinator.com/companies?batch=Winter%202026	Batch filter applied
Search with text + sort	https://www.ycombinator.com/companies?query=ai%20agents&sortBy=created_at_desc	Text query; created_at_desc sorts by newest launch
Search with boolean filters	https://www.ycombinator.com/companies?isHiring=true&top_company=true	Hiring / top-company filters
Paginated search	https://www.ycombinator.com/companies?page=2	page is not a result offset; the search is walked from its first page and the scope counts as partial (no EXPIRED rows are produced)
Industry page	https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/industry/fintech	Industry filter (unknown industry: skipped with a warning). Previously this ran an unfiltered all-companies search
Location page, country or area	https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/location/india	Region filter. Previously unfiltered
Location page, city	https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/location/san-francisco	City text search narrowed to companies whose location lists that city. Previously unfiltered
Company page	https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/airbnb	One company
Numeric company id	https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/531	Resolved to the company (the slug field then carries the numeric id)
Apex host	https://ycombinator.com/companies/stripe	Same as the www form
Company jobs page	https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/dropbox/jobs	Treated as the company page (jobs are included with detail fetching)
Founders directory	https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/founders	Not supported: skipped with a warning, never scraped as a company

Search-mode industries and regions also accept plain names in any letter case (for example fintech, india); a value that is not in the known list is searched as written and logged with a warning. 3. Turn Fetch full detail page on for founders, social links, jobs, news and launches, or off for a faster, search-only pull. 4. Set Max companies (and optionally Max search pages) to control run size and cost, then click Start.

Most-recent batches with full enrichment:

{
  "mode": "search",
  "batches": ["Winter 2026", "Spring 2026"],
  "fetchDetails": true,
  "maxListings": 100
}

AI agent companies in B2B, hiring only:

{
  "mode": "search",
  "query": "ai agents",
  "industries": ["B2B"],
  "tags": ["Artificial Intelligence", "AI"],
  "isHiring": true,
  "fetchDetails": true,
  "maxListings": 50
}

Top-ranked companies that are public or acquired, across all batches:

{
  "mode": "search",
  "topCompany": true,
  "statuses": ["Public", "Acquired"],
  "fetchDetails": true,
  "maxListings": 0
}

URL mode, multiple links pasted at once:

{
  "mode": "url",
  "urls": [
    "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies?batch=Winter%202024",
    "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies?batch=Summer%202024",
    "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/example-co"
  ],
  "fetchDetails": true
}

Run it from your code

Python:

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("abotapi/ycombinator-com-scraper").call(run_input={
    "mode": "search",
    "isHiring": True,
    "fetchDetails": True,
    "maxListings": 25,
})
for company in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(company["name"], company["url"])

JavaScript:

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('abotapi/ycombinator-com-scraper').call({
  mode: 'search',
  isHiring: true,
  fetchDetails: true,
  maxListings: 25,
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();

Or connect it to Make, Zapier, n8n, Google Sheets or webhooks from the Integrations tab.

Resume and recurring updates

• Resume from a previous run (resumeFromRunId) continues one interrupted run in a brand-new run: paste its run or dataset ID and this run skips every company already saved there (matched by objectID), so it only appends new companies. A killed or migrated run also checkpoints itself automatically and picks back up in the same run without any input, and without re-charging for companies it already collected.
• Incremental mode (incrementalMode) is for a search or URL set you run on a schedule. Each company is classified NEW, UPDATED (with changedFields), UNCHANGED (suppressed and not billed unless emitUnchanged is on), EXPIRED, or REAPPEARED. EXPIRED is only produced after a run that scanned the entire tracked search or URL set with no cap, no page limit and no resumeFromRunId cutting it short, and only with emitExpired on (a search with more than 1000 matches is only scanned in full when the run has no item cap, or a cap above 1000: it is then split into per-batch slices, newest batch first; a capped run or a search that cannot be split never writes EXPIRED, and neither does a run resumed after a migration whose slice list changed in between); a capped or partial run leaves the previous state untouched instead of guessing. REAPPEARED can only happen to a company that a prior complete scan already marked EXPIRED, and it shows up again on a later run, so it never appears unless emitExpired has been used at least once for that search. stateKey names or shares the stored baseline; leave it empty and one is derived automatically from your filters or URLs. Do not combine resumeFromRunId with an incrementalMode search that already has saved state, the two solve different problems and the run stops with an error if they conflict. With incremental mode off, output is exactly as before.

Send results into your apps (MCP connectors)

Optionally pipe the scraped results into the apps you already use, via Model Context Protocol (MCP) connectors. This is an extra delivery step after the scrape: the Apify dataset is never changed.

What gets written to the connector: a condensed, human-readable summary of each company, not the full JSON. Each item becomes one entry with a title and its key fields flattened to plain text. The complete record always stays in the Apify dataset.

1. Authorize a connector once under Apify → Settings → Integrations (Notion, Linear, Airtable, or Apify).
2. Select it in the "Pipe results into your apps" input field. If the picker is empty, you haven't authorized a connector yet.
3. For Notion, also set notionParentPageUrl to the page where items should be created.

The connection is mediated by Apify's MCP proxy, so this actor never sees your third-party credentials. Leave the field empty to skip.

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
mode	string	search	search (filters) or url (paste links). The other mode's fields are ignored.
query	string	none	Free-text search across name, one-liner and description. Leave blank to match all companies. One search can list at most its first 1000 matches. When a search matches more than 1000 companies and the item limit is unlimited or above 1000, it is walked as one slice per batch, newest batch first, so results arrive batch by batch rather than in one global sort. With a smaller item limit it stays a single search in your chosen sort order.
batches	array	none (prefill: ["Winter 2026", "Spring 2026"])	YC batch names. Accepts long form (Winter 2024) or short codes (W24). Leave empty for all batches.
industries	array	none	Top-level industry, e.g. B2B, Consumer, Healthcare, Fintech. Multiple values are OR'd.
subindustries	array	none	Refined industry tag, e.g. Fintech -> Payments. Multiple values OR'd.
regions	array	none	HQ region or country, e.g. United States of America, Europe, Remote. Multiple values OR'd.
tags	array	none	Topic tags, e.g. SaaS, Artificial Intelligence, Developer Tools. Multiple values OR'd.
statuses	array	none	One or more of Active, Inactive, Acquired, Public.
stages	array	none	One or more of Seed, Early, Growth.
isHiring	boolean	false	Only companies with active job postings.
topCompany	boolean	false	Only YC top-ranked companies.
nonprofit	boolean	false	Only nonprofit companies.
hasDemoDayVideo	boolean	false	Only companies with a public demo-day video.
hasAppVideo	boolean	false	Only companies whose application video is public.
hasAppAnswers	boolean	false	Only companies whose application answers are public.
sortBy	string	relevance	relevance or launch-date-desc (newest launched first).
urls	array	one example of every supported shape (see table below)	URL mode only. Any supported YC URL, one or more. Leaving it untouched in URL mode scrapes one example of each shape.
fetchDetails	boolean	true	Adds founders, social URLs, application Q&A, video URLs, photos, partner, jobs, news, launches, year founded and city.
fetchJobDetails	boolean	false	Also fetch each open job's full description text and a remote flag (one extra page fetch per posting; needs fetchDetails on).
maxListings	integer	20	Cap on total companies. 0 = unlimited (the entire matching search or URL set).
maxPages	integer	none (prefill 0; both mean unlimited)	Optional bound on search pages walked per query. Leave empty or 0 to walk every result page until maxListings is hit or the results end.
resumeFromRunId	string	none	Paste a previous run ID or dataset ID to continue a full walk across separate runs, skipping companies already saved there.
incrementalMode	boolean	false	Track a recurring search or URL set and label each row's changeType.
stateKey	string	none	Names the saved baseline this run compares against. Leave empty to auto-derive one from your filters or URLs.
emitUnchanged	boolean	false	Also return, and bill, companies with no detected change.
emitExpired	boolean	false	Also return, and bill, companies no longer found, but only after a run that scanned the full tracked search with nothing cutting it short.
ignoreFieldsForChanges	array	none	Incremental mode only. Field names (or dotted paths such as founders.linkedinUrl) left out when deciding whether a company changed; they are still returned in every row. scrapedAt is always ignored. Changing the list never causes a one-time wave of UPDATED rows.
proxy	object	Apify Proxy (datacenter)	Connection settings. Residential is supported as an upgrade if you ever see throttling.
mcpConnectors	array	none	Optional: send a summary of each company to apps you authorized under Integrations.
notionParentPageUrl	string	none	Notion connector only: page under which company pages are created.
maxNotifyListings	integer	50	Cap on items written to each connector per run. Does not affect the dataset.

Output tabs

The Output tab has five views: Companies (one row per company), Founders (one row per founder), Open jobs (one row per job posting, needs company details on), Changes (incremental mode), and a Run summary (rows per search, the number of company URLs, and whether the scan was complete, written to the key-value store record OUTPUT on every run). Founder and job rows are views over the company rows, not extra dataset items, so billing is unchanged.

Output Example

Sample shape: values are illustrative placeholders, not from a live record.

{
  "id": 12345,
  "slug": "example-co",
  "objectID": "12345",
  "name": "Example Co",
  "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/example-co",
  "oneLiner": "One sentence company pitch.",
  "longDescription": "Longer multi-paragraph description from the application.",
  "website": "https://example.com",
  "batch": "W24",
  "batchName": "Winter 2024",
  "status": "Active",
  "stage": "Seed",
  "industry": "B2B",
  "subindustry": "B2B -> Productivity",
  "industries": ["B2B", "Productivity"],
  "tags": ["SaaS", "AI"],
  "regions": ["United States of America", "Remote"],
  "allLocations": "San Francisco, CA, USA; Remote",
  "teamSize": 8,
  "yearFounded": 2024,
  "launchedAt": 1700000000,
  "isHiring": true,
  "topCompany": false,
  "nonprofit": false,
  "logoUrl": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/logos/0000000000000000000000000000000000000000.png",
  "location": "San Francisco, CA, USA",
  "city": "San Francisco",
  "country": "United States",
  "linkedinUrl": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/example-co",
  "twitterUrl": "https://twitter.com/example_co",
  "crunchbaseUrl": "https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/example-co",
  "githubUrl": "https://github.com/example-co",
  "primaryGroupPartner": {
    "id": 1,
    "fullName": "Partner Name",
    "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/people/partner-name",
    "avatarUrl": "https://example-cdn.ycombinator.com/avatars/partner.jpg"
  },
  "founders": [
    {
      "fullName": "Founder Name",
      "title": "CEO",
      "bio": "Founder bio text.",
      "linkedinUrl": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/founder-name",
      "twitterUrl": "https://twitter.com/founder_name",
      "isActive": true
    }
  ],
  "founderCount": 1,
  "jobPostings": [
    {
      "title": "Senior Engineer",
      "location": "Remote",
      "type": "Full-time",
      "role": "eng",
      "salaryRange": "$140K - $180K",
      "equityRange": "0.10% - 0.50%",
      "visa": "Open to all",
      "applyUrl": "https://www.workatastartup.com/jobs/0000"
    }
  ],
  "jobPostingCount": 1,
  "newsItems": [
    { "title": "Article title", "url": "https://example.com/article", "date": "Jan 01, 2026" }
  ],
  "newsCount": 1,
  "launches": [
    { "title": "Launch announcement title", "body": "Body of the Launch YC post." }
  ],
  "launchCount": 1,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z"
}

Plan Requirement

An Apify plan with proxy access is required, and the default Apify datacenter proxy is enough: in our checks the directory and company pages loaded on datacenter with no blocking, so residential is not needed. For large or frequent runs, or if you ever see requests being refused, you can switch the Proxy setting to residential. If your account has no proxy access, the run stops with: "The proxy connection was refused for this account, so no page could be read. Your Apify plan does not include proxy access; a paid plan is required". On a free plan, where residential is unavailable, the run logs "Apify free plans do not include residential proxies" and continues on a backup connection. Cost scales with the number of rows returned, so Max companies is your cost cap. Fetch full detail page adds one extra page fetch per company, which makes runs slower but does not change the per-row price.

FAQ

How much does it cost?

You pay per company returned. The Pricing tab shows the current rates. Use Max companies to cap the cost of any run, and turn Fetch full detail page off for a faster, lighter, search-only pull.

Is it legal to scrape Y Combinator?

This actor collects only publicly available startup-directory data. You are responsible for how you use it: follow Y Combinator's terms and the laws that apply to you, and get legal advice if you plan commercial redistribution. Company facts are generally not protected, but logos, photos and founder bios may carry their own rights.

Can I get only new or changed companies on a schedule?

Yes. Schedule the actor from the Schedules tab with the same filters or URLs each time, and turn on Incremental mode. Each run then labels every company NEW, UPDATED, UNCHANGED (not returned unless you turn that on), and, only after a run that scans the whole tracked search with nothing cutting it short (a search over 1000 matches is split into per-batch slices, newest batch first, only when the item limit is unlimited or above 1000; a capped run or one that cannot be split never writes EXPIRED), EXPIRED. A company only comes back as REAPPEARED if an earlier complete scan had already marked it EXPIRED and it shows up again later.

What's the difference between "Resume from a previous run" and "Incremental mode"?

Resume from a previous run continues one specific interrupted or capped run: paste its run or dataset ID and this run appends only the companies it hasn't already saved. Incremental mode is for monitoring the same search or URL set over time on a schedule; it remembers state itself and classifies every row. Don't combine the two for a search that already has saved incremental state, the run stops with an error rather than guessing which baseline to use.

Why did my run fail instead of returning an empty dataset?

An empty dataset usually means your filters or URLs matched nothing, or requests were quietly refused for part of the run; this actor does not fail the whole run for that, it saves whatever it managed to collect, which can be nothing. Try loosening your filters or running again. If not a single results page could be loaded, the run ends FAILED (not empty) with "Could not load any results page (the requests failed), so nothing was collected. This is a connection problem, not an empty search." An actual failed run happens only for a handful of clear input problems: a Resume from a previous run ID that doesn't match any run or dataset this account can read, combining that field with an incremental search that already has saved state, or URL mode with no usable URL. A malformed entry, a non-Y Combinator address, an unknown industry page or the founders directory is skipped with a warning that names it, and the run fails only when no usable URL is left (an explicitly empty list included), so check the log if rows are missing.

Can I use it with AI agents or MCP?

Yes. Call it from any Apify integration or MCP client, and use the connector field to push results into Notion, Linear or Airtable.

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