YC Companies Scraper: Founders & Jobs, No Login

Scrape the public Y Combinator company directory (ycombinator.com/companies) and get one clean row per YC startup: batch, status, industry, location, team size, website, founders with LinkedIn and X links, open jobs and the YC partner. No login, no cookies and no API key.

Filter by batch (for example W24), industry, region, status, hiring and team size, or look up a list of companies by slug or URL. The ready-made example (batch W24, 30 companies) finishes in about 10 seconds and costs about $0.06.

Table of contents

• What it does
• Quick start
• Use cases
• Input
• Output
• Pricing and limits
• Track new YC companies
• API, export and integrations
• Switching from another YC scraper
• Troubleshooting
• FAQ
• Related Actors
• Support

What it does

The Actor reads the public Y Combinator startup directory — the same list you see in a browser. It has two modes:

• Search the directory (mode: "search", default): keep the companies that match your filters, newest batches first.
• Look up specific companies (mode: "companies"): give up to 1000 company slugs or YC URLs and get one row for each.

With Include founders, socials and jobs on (default), the Actor also opens each company page and adds the founders (name, title, short bio, LinkedIn, X), the company's LinkedIn, X, Facebook, GitHub and Crunchbase links, the YC group partner, year founded and the list of open jobs. With it off, you get the directory fields only — faster and cheaper.

Good fit

• Build a lead list of YC startups from one batch, industry or region.
• Find founders of YC companies and their public LinkedIn and X profiles.
• Find YC startups that are hiring now, with job titles, salary and equity ranges as listed on YC.
• Get only the companies added since your last run (for a weekly or daily schedule).

Not a fit / limits

• No emails or phone numbers. The Actor never returns founder emails or phone numbers, and it removes them from descriptions and bios.
• Only public data from ycombinator.com. No Bookface, no private YC data, no funding amounts or valuations.
• The Actor does not visit company websites, LinkedIn or X. Links are copied as YC shows them.
• Data is as fresh as the YC directory at run time. Team size, status and jobs are what founders reported to YC; they can be out of date.

Quick start

1. Open the Input tab.
2. Keep the example: Batches = W24, Max companies = 30.
3. Keep Include founders, socials and jobs on.
4. Click Start.
5. Open the Output tab. The Companies view shows one row per company; the Founders & socials view shows founders, links and jobs.

Expected result: 30 Winter 2024 companies with founders and open jobs, in about 10 seconds.

Use cases

Buyer job	Input path	Output entity	Key fields	Next integration
Lead list of startups in one YC batch	batches, industries	company	name, website, oneLiner, linkedinUrl, teamSize	CSV/Excel to a CRM
Reach out to founders	batches, includeFounders	company with founders	founders[].name, founders[].title, founders[].linkedinUrl	LinkedIn outreach tools
Startups that are hiring	isHiring, regions	company with jobs	openJobsCount, jobs[].title, jobs[].salaryRange, jobs[].url	Recruiting spreadsheet
Market map of an industry	industries, status, minTeamSize	company	industry, subindustry, tags, status, batchCode	BI tool / Google Sheets
Enrich your own list of YC companies	mode: companies, companies	company with founders	slug, groupPartner, yearFounded, founders	Your database via API
Alert on new YC companies	onlyNew, stateKey + a schedule	new companies only	name, batchCode, launchedAt, url	Slack / email via webhook

Input

Input fields

Field	Plain name	Type	Required	Default / prefill	Allowed values	Effect	Example	Recommendation
mode	Mode	string	no	default search	search, companies	Search the directory or look up a list of companies	"search"	Use companies when you already know which companies you want
batches	Batches	string list	no	prefill ["W24"]; empty = all batches	up to 200 codes or names: W24, S23, X25 (Spring), F24 (Fall), Winter 2024, Unspecified	Keep companies from these batches	["W25", "S25"]	The fastest way to keep a run small
search	Keyword	string	no	empty	up to 200 characters	Full-text search in names and descriptions, like the search box on YC	"developer tools"	Combine with batches for a narrow list
industries	Industries	string list	no	empty = all	YC industry names, any case	Keep companies in these industries	["Fintech", "Healthcare"]	An unknown name stops the run and lists valid names
regions	Regions	string list	no	empty = all	YC region names	Keep companies in these regions	["Europe", "India"]	An unknown name stops the run and lists valid names
status	Company status	list	no	empty = all	Active, Acquired, Public, Inactive	Keep only these statuses	["Active"]	Use Active for sales lists
isHiring	Hiring now only	boolean	no	false	true / false	Keep only companies with open jobs on YC	true	For recruiting and "hiring" signals
topCompaniesOnly	Top companies only	boolean	no	false	true / false	Keep only companies YC marks as top companies	true
minTeamSize	Min team size	integer	no	empty = no minimum	0 or more	Keep companies with at least this many people	10
maxTeamSize	Max team size	integer	no	empty = no maximum	0 or more, not below minTeamSize	Keep companies with at most this many people	50
includeFounders	Include founders, socials and jobs	boolean	no	true	true / false	Opens each company page for founders, social links, partner and jobs. Each row is billed as a full row	false	Turn off for large directory exports when you need directory fields only. Always on in companies mode
companies	Companies (companies mode)	string list	only in companies mode	empty	up to 1000 slugs or ycombinator.com/companies/... URLs	Companies to look up	["airbnb", "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/doordash"]	Duplicates are removed (same slug in any case or URL form)
onlyNew	Only new companies	boolean	no	false	true / false	Skip companies delivered by earlier runs with the same state key	true	Use with a schedule
stateKey	State key	string	no	default	1–40 letters, digits, -, _	Name of the remembered list for onlyNew	"w26-fintech"	Use a different key for each saved search
maxItems	Max companies	integer	no	default 100, prefill 30	1–10000	Maximum rows to save. Each row is charged	500	The whole directory has about 6300 companies

Empty input ({}) searches all batches and saves the 100 newest companies with founders. Unknown input fields stop the run with a list of allowed fields, so a typo never silently changes what you pay for.

Interacting settings

When	Input A	Input B	Effective behavior	Example	Cost/result effect
Several filters	batches, industries, regions, status, search	each other	All filters must match (AND). Inside one list, any value matches (OR)	W24 + Fintech	Fewer rows
Companies mode	mode: companies	search filters	Search filters are ignored; only companies is used
Companies mode	mode: companies	includeFounders	Always reads company pages, so every found company is a full row		Full-row price
Tracking	onlyNew	maxItems	maxItems counts only new companies. Already delivered companies are skipped and not charged		Unchanged run: only the start fee
Large exports	includeFounders: true	maxItems above ~1000	About 0.28 seconds per full row. 1500 full rows took 7 minutes	5000 full rows ≈ 23 minutes	Raise the run timeout (see Troubleshooting)

Input examples

Founders of one batch (the prefilled example)

{
  "batches": ["W24"],
  "maxItems": 30
}

Expected behavior: reads the W24 batch and opens 30 company pages. Expected output: 30 companies with founders, linkedinUrl, jobs. Limit or cost note: about 10 seconds, $0.057 at the Free tier price.

Hiring fintech startups in Europe, directory fields only

{
  "industries": ["Fintech"],
  "regions": ["Europe"],
  "isHiring": true,
  "includeFounders": false,
  "maxItems": 200
}

Expected behavior: searches all batches, newest first, without opening company pages. Expected output: companies with name, website, teamSize, isHiring, batchCode.

Look up companies you already know

{
  "mode": "companies",
  "companies": ["airbnb", "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/doordash"]
}

Expected behavior: one row per company. A slug that does not exist on YC returns one not_found row.

Weekly list of new YC companies

{
  "onlyNew": true,
  "stateKey": "all-new",
  "includeFounders": false,
  "maxItems": 10000
}

Expected behavior: the first run builds the baseline and saves the whole directory (about 6300 rows, about 2.5 minutes, about $5.67). To start smaller, add a filter such as batches. Later runs save only companies that were not delivered before.

Output

Each company is one item in the default Dataset. Two views are ready in the Output tab:

• Companies — name, batch, status, one-liner, website, industry, location, team, hiring, founders count, LinkedIn, YC page, row status.
• Founders & socials — founders, company LinkedIn, X, GitHub, Crunchbase, year founded, YC partner, open jobs.

Output fields

Field	Meaning	Type	Can be empty?	Example / enum	Source / notes
recordStatus	Row status	string	no	complete, partial, not_found, error	see Output entities
ycId	YC company ID	integer	yes (not_found/error)	29517	directory
name	Company name	string	yes (not_found/error)	RetailReady	directory
slug	YC slug, usable in companies mode	string	no	retailready	directory
url	YC company page	string	no	https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/retailready
website	Company website	string	yes	https://www.retailreadyai.com/	directory
oneLiner	Short tagline	string	yes	An AI-powered supply chain compliance engine	emails/phones removed
longDescription	Long description	string	yes		emails/phones removed
batch	Batch name	string	yes	Winter 2024
batchCode	Short batch code	string	yes	W24, X25, F24	built from batch
status	Company status	string	yes	Active, Acquired, Public, Inactive
industry	Main industry	string	yes	B2B
subindustry	Industry path	string	yes	B2B -> Supply Chain and Logistics
industries	All industry labels	string[]	empty list	["B2B", "Supply Chain and Logistics"]
tags	YC tags	string[]	empty list	["AI", "Logistics"]
regions	YC regions	string[]	empty list	["United States of America", "America / Canada"]
location	Locations as shown in the directory	string	yes	San Francisco, CA, USA
teamSize	Team size reported to YC	integer	yes	12
isHiring	Has open jobs on YC	boolean	yes	true
isTopCompany	YC top company	boolean	yes	false
isNonprofit	Nonprofit	boolean	yes	false
stage	Stage label	string	yes	Early, Growth
launchedAt	When the YC profile was launched	string (ISO 8601)	yes	2024-01-16T16:52:04.000Z
formerNames	Previous names	string[]	empty list	[]
logoUrl	Logo image	string	yes		only stable links
detailsIncluded	Company page was read	boolean	no	true	false when includeFounders is off or the page failed
yearFounded	Year founded	integer	yes	2024	company page
city	City	string	yes	San Francisco	company page
country	Country code	string	yes	US	company page
linkedinUrl	Company LinkedIn	string	yes	https://www.linkedin.com/company/...	company page
twitterUrl	Company X/Twitter	string	yes		company page
facebookUrl	Company Facebook	string	yes		company page
githubUrl	Company GitHub	string	yes		company page
crunchbaseUrl	Company Crunchbase	string	yes		company page
groupPartner	YC group partner	string	yes		company page
foundersCount	Number of founders	integer	yes	2	null when details were not read
founders	Founders: name, title, bio, linkedinUrl, twitterUrl	object[]	yes		null when details were not read. Never emails or phones
openJobsCount	Open jobs on YC	integer	yes	4	null when details were not read
jobs	Jobs: title, url, location, type, role, salaryRange, equityRange, minExperience, visa	object[]	yes		null when details were not read
errorMessage	Why a row is partial, not_found or error	string	yes		null for complete rows
source	Always ycombinator.com	string	no
fetchedAt	When the row was fetched	string (ISO 8601)	no

Output entities and surfaces

Situation	Where	Result shape	User action
Normal company	Dataset	recordStatus: "complete"	Use the row
Company page failed (search mode)	Dataset	recordStatus: "partial", directory fields filled, detailsIncluded: false, errorMessage says why	Run the slug again in companies mode later
Slug does not exist on YC (companies mode)	Dataset	recordStatus: "not_found"; only slug, url, errorMessage and the service fields detailsIncluded, source, fetchedAt are filled	Check the slug
Page failed (companies mode)	Dataset	recordStatus: "error", not charged	Retry later. If YC renamed the company, its old slug can fail this way: find the new slug with search
No company matches the filters	Dataset empty; run SUCCEEDED; status message No YC companies match these filters.	—	Loosen the filters
Every run	Key-value store record RUN_SUMMARY	status, message, counts, charged events, input echo	Read in API or webhooks

RUN_SUMMARY.status is one of COMPLETE, PARTIAL, NO_RESULTS, NOT_FOUND, INVALID_INPUT, ERROR, CANCELLED. The same short message is shown as the run status message.

Output example

One real row from the prefilled W24 run. Founder names, bios and profile links are replaced with placeholders here; the YC group partner is shortened. Jobs list is trimmed to one item, and some long or empty fields (longDescription, formerNames, logoUrl, facebookUrl) are left out to keep the example short. Real rows always have every field from the table above.

{
  "recordStatus": "complete",
  "ycId": 29517,
  "name": "RetailReady",
  "slug": "retailready",
  "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/retailready",
  "website": "https://www.retailreadyai.com/",
  "oneLiner": "An AI-powered supply chain compliance engine",
  "batch": "Winter 2024",
  "batchCode": "W24",
  "status": "Active",
  "industry": "B2B",
  "subindustry": "B2B -> Supply Chain and Logistics",
  "industries": ["B2B", "Supply Chain and Logistics"],
  "tags": ["B2B", "Compliance", "Logistics", "Supply Chain", "AI"],
  "regions": ["United States of America", "America / Canada"],
  "location": "San Francisco, CA, USA",
  "teamSize": 12,
  "isHiring": true,
  "isTopCompany": false,
  "isNonprofit": false,
  "stage": "Early",
  "launchedAt": "2024-01-16T16:52:04.000Z",
  "detailsIncluded": true,
  "yearFounded": 2024,
  "city": "San Francisco",
  "country": "US",
  "linkedinUrl": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/retailreadyai/",
  "twitterUrl": null,
  "githubUrl": null,
  "crunchbaseUrl": null,
  "groupPartner": "<YC partner name>",
  "foundersCount": 2,
  "founders": [
    { "name": "<Founder 1>", "title": "Founder", "bio": "<short bio from YC>", "linkedinUrl": "https://linkedin.com/in/<profile>", "twitterUrl": null },
    { "name": "<Founder 2>", "title": "Founder", "bio": "<short bio from YC>", "linkedinUrl": "https://linkedin.com/in/<profile>", "twitterUrl": null }
  ],
  "openJobsCount": 4,
  "jobs": [
    {
      "title": "Full Stack Software Engineer",
      "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/retailready/jobs/wEGXWv4-full-stack-software-engineer",
      "location": "San Francisco, CA, US",
      "type": "Full-time",
      "role": "Engineering",
      "salaryRange": "$110K - $170K",
      "equityRange": "0.05% - 0.25%",
      "minExperience": "Any (new grads ok)",
      "visa": "US citizen/visa only"
    }
  ],
  "errorMessage": null,
  "source": "ycombinator.com",
  "fetchedAt": "2026-10-14T02:07:18.929Z"
}

null means YC does not show this value for the company (or details were not read). An empty list means the label list is empty on YC.

Pricing and limits

Pricing unit

You pay per event (pay-per-event). Platform usage (compute, storage, traffic) is included — you pay only the events below.

Event	When it is charged	Free	Bronze	Silver	Gold
Actor start	Once per run	$0.003	$0.003	$0.003	$0.003
Company (directory fields)	Each saved row with includeFounders: false, each partial row, each not_found lookup	$0.0009	$0.00085	$0.0008	$0.00075
Company with founders	Each saved row with founders, socials and jobs	$0.0018	$0.0017	$0.0016	$0.0015

That is $0.90 per 1000 directory rows and $1.80 per 1000 full rows at the Free tier, less on higher Apify plans.

• A run with no matching companies, an unchanged onlyNew run and a run with invalid input are charged only the start fee ($0.003).
• error rows (company page failed in companies mode) are free.
• If you set a maximum cost per run, the Actor stops before it would go over it, keeps the rows it already saved and finishes with a PARTIAL status.

Cost examples

Free tier prices.

Scenario	Input scope	Rows	Start	Row charges	Total
Prefilled example	W24, 30 companies, founders on	30	$0.003	30 × $0.0018	$0.057
One batch with founders	~250 companies, founders on	250	$0.003	250 × $0.0018	$0.453
1000 companies, directory fields	founders off	1000	$0.003	1000 × $0.0009	$0.903
Whole directory, directory fields	all batches, founders off, maxItems 10000	~6300	$0.003	~6300 × $0.0009	~$5.67
No matches / nothing new		0	$0.003	—	$0.003

Limits

• maxItems up to 10000; the directory has about 6300 companies.
• companies mode: up to 1000 slugs or URLs per run.
• Full rows take about 0.28 seconds each, because the Actor opens one company page per row and keeps a polite request rate. The default run timeout is 300 seconds (enough for about 900 full rows). For larger runs with founders, raise the timeout in Run options: about 3600 seconds for the whole directory.
• If the timeout is close, the Actor stops on its own, keeps all saved rows and finishes with PARTIAL.
• Links are returned as companies wrote them on YC. Some of them are outdated or point to a wrong page; the Actor does not check them.

Track new YC companies

1. Set onlyNew: true and a stateKey (for example w26-fintech). Keep the other filters the same in every run.
2. Run once. All matching companies are saved and remembered.
3. Create a Schedule in Apify Console (for example every Monday).
4. Each next run saves only companies that were not delivered before with the same stateKey. If there is nothing new, the run succeeds with 0 rows and the message No new companies: N matches were already delivered earlier.

A company is remembered as soon as it is saved, also as a partial row. To get full details for such a row later, run its slug in companies mode without onlyNew.

The remembered list is stored in your account, in the named key-value store y-combinator-companies-state, record SEEN_<stateKey>. Use a new stateKey to start over.

API, export and integrations

• API: start a run with POST https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/cliqtomedia~y-combinator-companies/runs and the input JSON; read rows from the run's default Dataset.
• Export: download the Dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or RSS from the Output tab or the Dataset API.
• Scheduling: Apify Schedules with onlyNew (see above).
• Webhooks / no-code: use an Apify webhook on run success, or the Make, Zapier or n8n Apify integrations, to send new rows to Google Sheets, Slack or a CRM.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

• MCP server with only this Actor: https://mcp.apify.com?tools=cliqtomedia/y-combinator-companies
• Smallest useful input: {"batches": ["W24"], "maxItems": 30}
• Key output fields: name (company), batchCode (YC batch), website, founders (name, title, LinkedIn, X), jobs (open roles).
• A 30-company run takes about 10 seconds and costs about $0.06. Keep maxItems small for interactive use; full rows take about 0.28 seconds each.

Switching from another YC scraper

Field names differ from other YC directory Actors. Common mappings:

This Actor	Often called
ycId	id, company_id
name	company_name
oneLiner / longDescription	short_description / long_description
location	allLocations, company_location
isTopCompany / isNonprofit	topCompany / nonprofit, top_company
launchedAt (ISO 8601 text)	launchedAt (Unix seconds)
logoUrl	logo, company_image
linkedinUrl, twitterUrl, githubUrl	company_linkedin, company_x, company_github
groupPartner	primary_partner
openJobsCount / jobs	number_of_open_jobs / open_jobs
teamSize, yearFounded (numbers)	team_size, year_founded (sometimes text)

Troubleshooting

The run failed with "Unknown input field(s)"

Symptom: run FAILED right after start. Likely reason: a misspelled field name, for example includeDetails instead of includeFounders. Action: use the field names from the Input fields table. The error lists all allowed names.

The run failed with "Unknown industries" or "Unknown regions"

Likely reason: a name that YC does not use. Action: copy one of the valid names from the error message (case does not matter).

"Batch ... is not a YC batch"

Action: use a code like W24, S23, X25, F24 or a name like Winter 2024.

0 rows and "No YC companies match these filters."

Likely reason: filters exclude each other (for example a batch with no companies in that region). Check: open ycombinator.com/companies with the same filters. Action: remove one filter at a time. The run cost only the start fee.

Run stopped early with "Run timeout is close"

Likely reason: many full rows and the default 300-second timeout. Action: raise Timeout in Run options (for example 3600 seconds), lower maxItems, or turn off includeFounders. Saved rows are kept.

Some rows have recordStatus: "partial"

Likely reason: a company page did not load; directory fields are still filled. Action: run those slugs again in companies mode.

"YC company pages failed ... times in a row" or "Source refused access"

Likely reason: ycombinator.com is slow or temporarily unavailable. The Actor stops instead of saving empty rows. Action: try again later. Rows saved before the stop are kept.

FAQ

Do I need a YC account, cookies or an API key?

No. The Actor reads only the public directory and public company pages.

Does it return founder emails or phone numbers?

No. Emails and phone numbers are never returned and are removed from descriptions and bios. You get public LinkedIn and X profile links that founders list on YC.

How fresh is the data?

Every run reads the YC directory live. Team size, status, hiring and jobs are what each company shows on YC at that moment; YC does not guarantee they are current.

Why are some fields null?

YC does not show that value for this company, or details were not read (includeFounders: false or a partial row).

Can I get all YC companies?

Yes. Leave the filters empty and set maxItems to 10000. Without founders it takes about 2.5 minutes. With founders, raise the run timeout to about 3600 seconds: 5000 full rows took 23 minutes in our tests, so the whole directory is expected to take about 30 minutes.

Is this an official Y Combinator product?

No. It is an independent tool that reads the public Y Combinator website. Please follow ycombinator.com terms and data protection laws when you use personal data such as founder names.

Related Actors

• Ashby Jobs Scraper — full job boards of startups that use Ashby, many of them YC companies.
• Greenhouse Jobs Scraper & Monitor — job boards on Greenhouse.
• Wellfound Jobs Scraper — startup jobs from Wellfound.

Support

For a bug, a question or a feature request, open an issue in the Issues tab of this Actor. Include the run ID, the input mode and the error text. Never send tokens, cookies or private data.