# Y Combinator Company Detail Scraper (`datacach/yc-companies-detail-scraper`) Actor
Scrapes full company detail from Y Combinator company profile URLs (founders, jobs, news, launches) straight from the Inertia.js JSON backing each page. Fast, no browser.
- **URL**: https://apify.com/datacach/yc-companies-detail-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [DataCach](https://apify.com/datacach) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation, Lead generation, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet
## Pricing
from $0.99 / 1,000 results
This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.
Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event
## What's an Apify Actor?
Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".
## How to integrate an Actor?
If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.
In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md):
```bash
npm install apify-client
```
In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md):
```bash
pip install apify-client
```
In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):
````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash
In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md).
If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).
For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.
For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).
# README
## Y Combinator Company Detail Scraper
> Extract full **Y Combinator company profiles** — founders, jobs, news, and metrics — from any YC company URL or slug, and export them to JSON, CSV, or Excel.
### What is the Y Combinator Company Detail Scraper?
The **Y Combinator Company Detail Scraper** turns any [Y Combinator](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies) company page into **structured data**. Give it one or more company **URLs or slugs** (for example `https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/doordash` or just `doordash`) and it returns a complete **JSON record per company**: batch, founding year, team size, one-liner, long description, **founders with bios and social links**, open **job postings**, recent **news items**, launches, and every social/Crunchbase link YC publishes.
It reads data **straight from the page's embedded JSON** — no headless browser — so runs are **fast, lightweight, and reliable**. Run it on the **Apify platform** to schedule scrapes, call it via **API**, and export results in one click.
### What can this Y Combinator scraper do?
- 🏢 **Scrape full company details** for any YC-backed startup by URL or slug
- 👥 **Extract founder profiles** — names, titles, bios, LinkedIn and Twitter/X links
- 💼 **Pull open job postings** — role, type, location, salary/equity range, experience
- 📰 **Collect recent news items** and **Launch YC** posts for each company
- 🔗 Capture **website, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Facebook, Crunchbase, and GitHub** links
- 📦 **Bulk process** hundreds of companies in one run, with adjustable concurrency
- 📤 **Export to JSON, CSV, Excel, or HTML**, or fetch results through the **Apify API**
- ⏰ **Schedule** recurring runs, **monitor** them, and connect to **Zapier, Make, and webhooks**
- 🌐 Optional **Apify Proxy** rotation for very large runs
### What data does the Y Combinator Company Detail Scraper extract?
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `name` | Company name |
| `slug` | YC directory slug (last part of the profile URL) |
| `batch` / `batch_name` | YC batch code and full name (e.g. `S13` / `Summer 2013`) |
| `one_liner` | Short tagline |
| `long_description` | Full company description |
| `website` | Company website |
| `ycdc_status` | Status (e.g. Active, Public, Acquired) |
| `year_founded` | Founding year |
| `team_size` | Number of employees |
| `location` / `city` / `country` | Headquarters location |
| `tags` | Industry/category tags |
| `founders` | Array of founders (name, title, bio, avatar, LinkedIn, Twitter/X) |
| `jobPostings` | Array of open roles (title, type, location, salary, equity, experience) |
| `newsItems` | Array of recent news (title, URL, date) |
| `launches` | Array of Launch YC posts |
| `logo_url` / `small_logo_url` | Company logo image URLs |
| `linkedin_url` / `twitter_url` / `fb_url` / `cb_url` / `github_url` | Social & Crunchbase links |
| `yc_url` | Canonical YC company page URL |
| `input_url` | The exact URL or slug you supplied |
> The table is representative — each record contains additional YC fields such as `city_tag`, `company_photos`, and `primary_group_partner`.
### How do I use this scraper to extract Y Combinator company data?
1. Open the Actor and go to the **Input** tab.
2. Add one or more companies to **Company URLs or slugs** — paste full profile URLs (`https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/stripe`) or bare slugs (`stripe`).
3. (Optional) Adjust **Max concurrency** for faster or gentler runs.
4. Click **Start**.
5. When the run finishes, open the **Output/Storage** tab and **download** your data as **JSON, CSV, Excel, or HTML** — or pull it via the **Apify API**.
> Need the *full* YC directory first? Pair this Actor with a directory scraper to get every company URL, then feed those URLs here for the detailed data.
### Input
The Actor takes a simple, plain-language input:
- **Company URLs or slugs** (required) — a list of YC company profile URLs or slugs, one company per entry. Both `https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/doordash` and `doordash` work.
- **Max concurrency** (optional) — how many companies to fetch in parallel (1–50, default 10). Higher is faster; lower is gentler on the target site.
- **Proxy configuration** (optional) — YC serves data fine over direct requests, so a proxy is usually unnecessary; enable it only for very large runs.
Example input:
```json
{
"startUrls": [
"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/doordash",
"airbnb"
],
"maxConcurrency": 10
}
````
### Output example
Every company becomes one dataset record. You can download the dataset in **JSON, CSV, Excel, or HTML**, or fetch it through the **Apify API**. A trimmed example (real fields):
Below is a **complete record** with every field the Actor returns. Long values (presigned image URLs, descriptions, bios) are shortened and arrays are trimmed to their first item with a `"..."` marker — real runs contain the full data.
```json
{
"id": 271,
"slug": "airbnb",
"name": "Airbnb",
"batch": "W09",
"batch_name": "Winter 2009",
"small_logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/3e9a0092...png",
"one_liner": "Book accommodations around the world.",
"website": "http://airbnb.com",
"long_description": "Founded in August of 2008 and based in San Francisco, California, Airbnb is a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world...",
"tags": ["Marketplace", "Travel"],
"ycdc_status": "Public",
"logo_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/logos/0d179a13...png?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&...&X-Amz-Signature=... (presigned, expires ~1h)",
"year_founded": 2008,
"team_size": 6132,
"location": "San Francisco",
"city": "San Francisco",
"city_tag": "san-francisco-bay-area",
"country": "US",
"linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/airbnb/",
"twitter_url": "https://twitter.com/Airbnb",
"fb_url": "https://www.facebook.com/airbnb/",
"cb_url": "https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/airbnb",
"github_url": null,
"free_response_question_answers": [],
"dday_video_url": null,
"app_video_url": null,
"app_answers": [],
"ycdc_url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/airbnb",
"company_photos": [
{
"id": 164,
"url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/attachments/8a7236c9...png?X-Amz-... (presigned)",
"photo_type": "sign"
}
],
"primary_group_partner": {
"id": 678,
"full_name": "Garry Tan",
"avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/3e671fcf...jpg?X-Amz-... (presigned)",
"url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/people/garry-tan"
},
"founders": [
{
"user_id": 21981,
"is_active": true,
"founder_bio": "Brian Chesky is the co-founder, Head of Community, and CEO of Airbnb, which he started with Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk in 2008...",
"full_name": "Brian Chesky",
"title": "Founder/CEO",
"avatar_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/avatars/7415ee0d...jpg?X-Amz-... (presigned)",
"twitter_url": "https://twitter.com/bchesky",
"linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianchesky/",
"has_email": true,
"latest_yc_company": { "name": "Airbnb", "href": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/airbnb" }
},
"... 2 more founders"
],
"jobPostings": [],
"newsItems": [
{
"title": "Airbnb launches Airbnb Rooms listing category for budget travel",
"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2023/05/03/airbnb-rooms-listing-category-budget-travel/70178696007/",
"date": "May 03, 2023"
},
"... 4 more news items"
],
"launches": [],
"yc_url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/airbnb",
"input_url": "airbnb"
}
```
> `jobPostings` is empty here because Airbnb has no open YC-listed roles. For hiring companies it contains one object per role, with fields like `title`, `type`, `prettyRole`, `location`, `salaryRange`, `equityRange`, and `minExperience` (see the data table above).
### Free vs. paid plans
The Actor works on any Apify account — the difference is **how many companies one run returns**:
| Plan | Companies per run | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 🆓 **Free** | First **5** companies per run | Any extra URLs/slugs beyond 5 are skipped, and a warning is logged. Great for testing and small jobs. |
| ⭐ **Paid (premium)** | Up to **1,000** companies per run | Process large batches in one run; use **Max concurrency** to speed them up. |
When you submit more companies than your plan allows, the Actor scrapes the first N and logs a notice — nothing fails, you simply get a capped result set. Upgrade your Apify plan to raise the cap from 5 to 1,000. The paid cap is a deliberate safety ceiling (rather than "unlimited") to prevent an accidental runaway run; if you need more than 1,000 companies in a single run, split them across runs or reach out via the Issues tab.
### Use cases
- 🔎 **Startup & VC research** — build datasets of YC companies by batch, industry, or stage.
- 📈 **Market and competitor analysis** — track team size, status, and descriptions over time.
- 🧑💼 **Recruiting & talent sourcing** — surface open roles and hiring companies across YC.
- 📇 **Lead generation & sales prospecting** — enrich company lists with founders and links.
- 📰 **Media monitoring** — follow news coverage and launches for a portfolio of startups.
- 🧠 **Data enrichment** — hydrate a list of YC slugs/URLs into full company profiles via the API.
### Other Y Combinator Actors you might like
- **Y Combinator Companies Scraper** — export the entire YC directory (~6,000 companies) with filters for batch, industry, region, and status. Use it to collect the URLs you feed into this Actor.
- **Y Combinator Founders Scraper** — extract founder-level data across YC.
### FAQ
#### Is it legal to scrape Y Combinator company data?
This Actor collects **publicly available** information from Y Combinator company pages. As with any scraping, you are responsible for how you use the data and for complying with Y Combinator's Terms of Service and applicable laws (including data-protection rules where relevant). Do not use scraped personal data in ways that violate privacy regulations. If in doubt, seek legal advice.
#### How do I get a list of Y Combinator company URLs?
Use a YC directory scraper (see **Other Actors** above) to export every company URL or slug, then pass those into this Actor's **Company URLs or slugs** input for the full detailed profiles.
#### Can I use this Y Combinator scraper via API?
Yes. Every Actor on Apify has a **REST API**. You can start runs, pass input, and fetch the resulting dataset programmatically, and integrate with **Zapier, Make, and webhooks**.
#### What export formats are supported?
Results can be downloaded as **JSON, CSV, Excel, or HTML**, or retrieved from the dataset via the API.
#### Why are some logo and founder avatar image links broken later?
`logo_url`, `small_logo_url`, and founder `avatar_thumb_url` are **time-limited presigned Amazon S3 links** that YC generates per request. They expire within hours of scraping, so download the images promptly if you need to keep them.
#### What's the difference between free and premium (paid) users?
On the **free plan**, each run returns the **first 5 companies** and skips any extra entries (with a logged warning) — ideal for testing. **Premium (paid) users** can scrape up to **1,000 companies per run**. That paid ceiling is intentional (rather than "unlimited") to guard against an accidental runaway run. The Actor's features are otherwise identical on both plans.
#### Does the scraper handle companies that don't exist?
Yes. If a URL or slug doesn't match a YC company (HTTP 404), that entry is recorded with an `error` field and the run continues — one bad input never stops the rest.
### Support
Found a bug or need an extra field? Please open a ticket on the Actor's **Issues** tab on its Apify Store page. For custom scraping or data-delivery needs, mention it there — custom solutions are available.
# Actor input Schema
## `startUrls` (type: `array`):
One Y Combinator company per entry. Each entry may be a full profile URL (e.g. https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/doordash) or just the company slug (e.g. doordash). The slug is the last part of the profile URL. The free plan scrapes the first 5 companies per run; paid plans scrape up to 1,000 per run.
## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):
How many companies to fetch in parallel. Higher values finish large lists faster but put more load on Y Combinator; lower values are gentler. Valid range is 1–50.
## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):
Optional proxy. Y Combinator serves this data fine over direct requests, so a proxy is usually unnecessary — enable it only for very large runs or if you start hitting rate limits.
## Actor input object example
```json
{
"startUrls": [
"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/doordash"
],
"maxConcurrency": 10,
"proxyConfiguration": {
"useApifyProxy": false
}
}
```
# Actor output Schema
## `dataset` (type: `string`):
No description
# API
You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.
## JavaScript example
```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
token: '',
});
// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
"startUrls": [
"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/doordash"
]
};
// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("datacach/yc-companies-detail-scraper").call(input);
// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
console.dir(item);
});
// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs
```
## Python example
```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient
# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("")
# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "startUrls": ["https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/doordash"] }
# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("datacach/yc-companies-detail-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)
# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
print(item)
# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start
```
## CLI example
```bash
echo '{
"startUrls": [
"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/doordash"
]
}' |
apify call datacach/yc-companies-detail-scraper --silent --output-dataset
```
## MCP server setup
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"apify": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"mcp-remote",
"https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=datacach/yc-companies-detail-scraper",
"--header",
"Authorization: Bearer "
]
}
}
}
```
## OpenAPI specification
```json
{
"openapi": "3.0.1",
"info": {
"title": "Y Combinator Company Detail Scraper",
"description": "Scrapes full company detail from Y Combinator company profile URLs (founders, jobs, news, launches) straight from the Inertia.js JSON backing each page. Fast, no browser.",
"version": "0.1",
"x-build-id": "gYJBh4NhiRomnafGC"
},
"servers": [
{
"url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
}
],
"paths": {
"/acts/datacach~yc-companies-detail-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
"post": {
"operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-datacach-yc-companies-detail-scraper",
"x-openai-isConsequential": false,
"summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
"tags": [
"Run Actor"
],
"requestBody": {
"required": true,
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
}
}
}
},
"parameters": [
{
"name": "token",
"in": "query",
"required": true,
"schema": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Enter your Apify token here"
}
],
"responses": {
"200": {
"description": "OK"
}
}
}
},
"/acts/datacach~yc-companies-detail-scraper/runs": {
"post": {
"operationId": "runs-sync-datacach-yc-companies-detail-scraper",
"x-openai-isConsequential": false,
"summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
"tags": [
"Run Actor"
],
"requestBody": {
"required": true,
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
}
}
}
},
"parameters": [
{
"name": "token",
"in": "query",
"required": true,
"schema": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Enter your Apify token here"
}
],
"responses": {
"200": {
"description": "OK",
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
}
}
}
}
}
}
},
"/acts/datacach~yc-companies-detail-scraper/run-sync": {
"post": {
"operationId": "run-sync-datacach-yc-companies-detail-scraper",
"x-openai-isConsequential": false,
"summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
"tags": [
"Run Actor"
],
"requestBody": {
"required": true,
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
}
}
}
},
"parameters": [
{
"name": "token",
"in": "query",
"required": true,
"schema": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Enter your Apify token here"
}
],
"responses": {
"200": {
"description": "OK"
}
}
}
}
},
"components": {
"schemas": {
"inputSchema": {
"type": "object",
"required": [
"startUrls"
],
"properties": {
"startUrls": {
"title": "Company URLs or slugs",
"type": "array",
"description": "One Y Combinator company per entry. Each entry may be a full profile URL (e.g. https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/doordash) or just the company slug (e.g. doordash). The slug is the last part of the profile URL. The free plan scrapes the first 5 companies per run; paid plans scrape up to 1,000 per run.",
"items": {
"type": "string"
}
},
"maxConcurrency": {
"title": "Max concurrency",
"minimum": 1,
"maximum": 50,
"type": "integer",
"description": "How many companies to fetch in parallel. Higher values finish large lists faster but put more load on Y Combinator; lower values are gentler. Valid range is 1–50.",
"default": 10
},
"proxyConfiguration": {
"title": "Proxy configuration",
"type": "object",
"description": "Optional proxy. Y Combinator serves this data fine over direct requests, so a proxy is usually unnecessary — enable it only for very large runs or if you start hitting rate limits.",
"default": {
"useApifyProxy": false
}
}
}
},
"runsResponseSchema": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"data": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"id": {
"type": "string"
},
"actId": {
"type": "string"
},
"userId": {
"type": "string"
},
"startedAt": {
"type": "string",
"format": "date-time",
"example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
},
"finishedAt": {
"type": "string",
"format": "date-time",
"example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
},
"status": {
"type": "string",
"example": "READY"
},
"meta": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"origin": {
"type": "string",
"example": "API"
},
"userAgent": {
"type": "string"
}
}
},
"stats": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"inputBodyLen": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 2000
},
"rebootCount": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"restartCount": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"resurrectCount": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"computeUnits": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
}
}
},
"options": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"build": {
"type": "string",
"example": "latest"
},
"timeoutSecs": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 300
},
"memoryMbytes": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 1024
},
"diskMbytes": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 2048
}
}
},
"buildId": {
"type": "string"
},
"defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
"type": "string"
},
"defaultDatasetId": {
"type": "string"
},
"defaultRequestQueueId": {
"type": "string"
},
"buildNumber": {
"type": "string",
"example": "1.0.0"
},
"containerUrl": {
"type": "string"
},
"usage": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATASET_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATASET_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 1
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"PROXY_SERPS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
}
}
},
"usageTotalUsd": {
"type": "number",
"example": 0.00005
},
"usageUsd": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATASET_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATASET_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
"type": "number",
"example": 0.00005
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"PROXY_SERPS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
```