🚀 Y Combinator Startups & Founders Scraper (5,000+ YC Directory)

Looking to discover funded AI startups, connect directly with YC founders, or build high-value B2B sales lead lists?

This actor provides instant, programmatic access to the entire Y Combinator startup ecosystem (5,000+ companies across all batches from W26 back to W05). Extract company websites, founder names, LinkedIn URLs, industry tags, locations, and descriptions in seconds — with zero browser lag.

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💡 What Can You Do With This Scraper?

• 🦄 VC Deal Sourcing & Market Intelligence: Discover newly funded stealth companies, track emerging tech trends, and source promising deal flow across specific batches (W26, S25, W25).
• 💼 High-Ticket B2B Sales Prospecting: Pitch developer tools, cloud credits, legal services, hiring platforms, or design services to well-funded founders with verified budgets.
• 🎯 Founder Outreach & Executive Recruitment: Extract founder names, titles, and verified LinkedIn profile URLs to reach decision-makers directly.
• 🏢 Crunchbase & PitchBook Alternative: Build your own private venture database at 1/100th the cost of enterprise data subscriptions.
• 🤖 Power AI Agents & CRM Pipelines: Automatically sync newly announced YC startups into HubSpot, Salesforce, Airtable, or Notion via Apify API, Make, or Zapier.

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⚡ Why Choose This Scraper Over Competitors?

Feature	This Actor	Other Scrapers / Manual Sourcing
Speed	⚡ Blazing Fast (Direct Algolia API)	🐌 Slow & heavy (Browser/DOM scraping)
Founder Data Included	✅ Names, Titles, and LinkedIn URLs	❌ Often missing or requires second scraper
Batch Coverage	🌐 Complete archive (W26 back to W05)	⚠️ Partial or outdated directories
Compute & Memory	💡 Ultra-lightweight (runs on 512 MB)	💸 Requires 2GB–4GB headless browsers
Pricing	💰 Pay-Per-Event ($0.0025 / startup)	💸 High monthly recurring subscription
Free Tier Allowance	🎁 ~2,000 startups FREE with Apify credit	❌ Expensive entry fees

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🚀 How to Scrape Y Combinator Companies (3 Easy Steps)

1. Select Filter: Enter target YC batches (e.g. ["W25", "S24"]) or leave empty to scrape all 5,000+ companies.
2. Choose Industry (Optional): Filter by tags like B2B, Fintech, Healthcare, or Consumer.
3. Run & Export: Click Start and download your structured startup data in CSV, Excel, or JSON.

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📥 Input Parameters

Field	Type	Description	Default / Example
batches	Array	Filter by YC batch codes. Leave empty to scrape all batches.	["W25", "S24"]
industry	String	Filter by industry vertical (e.g. B2B, Fintech, Healthcare).	""
maxItems	Integer	Maximum number of startups to extract in this run.	50

Sample Input JSON

{
  "batches": ["W25", "S24"],
  "industry": "B2B",
  "maxItems": 100
}

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📤 Sample Output JSON

{
  "company_name": "DoorDash",
  "yc_batch": "Summer 2013",
  "industry": "Consumer -> Food and Beverage",
  "short_description": "Restaurant delivery and logistics platform.",
  "long_description": "Founded in 2013, DoorDash is a technology company that connects consumers with their favorite local businesses...",
  "website_url": "https://doordash.com",
  "location": "San Francisco, CA, USA",
  "team_size": 18000,
  "founders": [
    {
      "name": "Tony Xu",
      "title": "CEO",
      "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-xu-373b544/",
      "twitter_url": null
    }
  ]
}

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💰 Fair Pay-Per-Event (PPE) Pricing

You only pay for startups that are successfully extracted and pushed to your dataset!

• Price: $0.0025 per startup record ($2.50 per 1,000 startups).
• Apify Free Credit: Every Apify account receives $5.00 in free monthly credit, meaning you can scrape up to 2,000 YC startups every single month for FREE!

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❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Does this include active hiring data and job roles?

Yes! Each startup record includes descriptions and website URLs where careers pages are located, making it easy to cross-reference with hiring intent tools.

Are founder LinkedIn links included for every startup?

The scraper extracts all publicly available founder LinkedIn URLs directly from their YC directory profile cards.

Can I scrape an entire batch at once?

Yes! Simply pass the batch code (e.g. ["W25"]) into the batches array and set maxItems to 500.

Can I connect this to my CRM or cold email tool?

Yes. You can export directly to CSV/Excel or use Apify's webhooks, Zapier, Make, or Python/Node.js SDKs to push leads directly into your CRM.