Y Combinator Companies Scraper

Search public Y Combinator company-directory records by keyword and selected batch, industry, tag, region, hiring or lifecycle attributes. Export company identity, source links and available directory metadata, with optional public profile details. Directory classifications and company claims support separate research rather than verified business status, investment quality or complete hiring coverage.

Quick start

Start with a focused query and a small saved-company cap. The existing input combines an AI query with a Summer 2024 batch, region and hiring filter:

{
  "query": "AI",
  "batch": "Summer 2024",
  "regions": ["United States of America"],
  "isHiring": true,
  "maxItems": 50,
  "includeProfileDetails": true
}

Prefer a video guide? This short Apify walkthrough shows you how to set up and run an Actor. It uses a different Actor, but the setup steps are the same.

Ready-to-run examples

Open an example, review the input, and run it as-is or adjust the filters:

• YC AI Startups - Recent Batch: Export recent AI-focused YC companies.
• YC Companies Hiring Now: Build a list of public YC companies currently marked as hiring.
• YC Developer Tools Profile Details: Collect developer-tools companies with profile enrichment enabled.

What you get

One saved company row with source identity, YC profile and website links, batch, description and available location, classification, team and hiring signals. Optional profile enrichment can add exposed founder names and social links. The hiring flag and team size reflect directory values rather than independently verified current operations.

Who is it for?

• Startup ecosystem researchers mapping bounded category and cohort samples.
• Recruiting researchers reviewing company-level public hiring signals.
• Partnership teams retaining source-linked company candidates for manual review.
• Data developers joining YC identities and websites into their own datasets.

How you can use the data

• Map a bounded AI cohort sample. Use the existing AI and Summer 2024 filters, keeping batch, tags, ycUrl and collection time. The sample is not proof that every matching startup was returned or that a public description is independently verified.
• Inspect a directory hiring subset. Apply isHiring when useful and retain the directory flag beside source links. A company-level hiring signal does not identify every open role or guarantee applicant eligibility.
• Review public founder context selectively. Enable profile details only when exposed founder names or public links matter, then keep their source company context. Missing links are unknown, and a social reference is not private contact information or permission to send outreach.
• Maintain your own market-map snapshots. Store company identity, website, ycUrl and scrapedAt before comparing recurring exports. Batch and category comparisons, notifications and enrichment decisions remain in your destination rather than built-in history.

Input settings

Setting	JSON key	Use it for
Search query	query	Search YC company names, one-liners, descriptions, tags, and related public fields. Leave empty to browse by filters only.
Maximum companies	maxItems	Cap the number of company records saved to the dataset.
YC batch	batch	Match an exact YC batch, such as Summer 2024, Winter 2025, or Spring 2025.
Industries	industries	Match YC industries such as B2B, Consumer, Fintech, Healthcare, or Industrials.
Tags	tags	Match YC tags such as SaaS, AI, Developer Tools, Fintech, or Marketplace.
Regions	regions	Match YC regions such as United States of America, America / Canada, Europe, South Asia, Remote, or Partly Remote.
Only hiring companies?	isHiring	Set to true for hiring companies, false for not-hiring companies, or leave empty for both.
Launch status	launchStatus	Filter by status such as Active, Public, Acquired, or Inactive.
Include profile details	includeProfileDetails	Visit each public company profile to add founder names and public social links. This is slower than directory-only mode.
Additional batches/statuses	batches, launchStatuses	Add exact public YC batch or status filters while retaining single-value inputs.
Company selectors	topCompaniesOnly, nonprofitOnly, minTeamSize, maxTeamSize	Shape a public company list by directory flags and team size.
Maximum run time	maxRunSeconds	Processing budget of 1–270 seconds. An unfinished extraction fails with useful rows retained and the next page recorded as RESUME_PAGE.
Resume directory page	resumePage	Existing optional zero-based next-page value copied from RESUME_PAGE after a bounded partial run.

Output data

The existing illustrative row is not an exact response to the input above or a current hiring measurement:

{
  "id": "29798",
  "name": "&AI",
  "slug": "ai-2",
  "url": "https://www.tryandai.com/",
  "ycUrl": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/ai-2",
  "batch": "Summer 2024",
  "oneLiner": "Collaborative workspace for patent litigators",
  "website": "https://www.tryandai.com/",
  "location": "San Francisco, CA, USA",
  "industry": "B2B",
  "tags": ["SaaS", "B2B", "LegalTech"],
  "isHiring": false,
  "teamSize": 13,
  "status": "Active",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-06-14T13:09:21.870Z"
}

Field	Description
name	Company name.
formerNames	Former names exposed by the directory, or an empty list when unavailable.
batch	YC batch associated with the company.
oneLiner	Short public company description.
website	Public company website URL.
location	Public location text from YC.
industry	Primary YC industry.
subindustry	More specific YC subindustry when available.
tags	Public YC tags associated with the company.
isHiring	Whether YC marks the company as hiring.
teamSize	Public team-size value when available.
status	Public company status.
stage	Public stage value when available.
ycUrl	Public YC company profile URL.
scrapedAt	Timestamp when the row was saved.

Download your results

Open your run's dataset, choose Export and select JSON, CSV or Excel. JSON keeps nested fields together. CSV and Excel are useful when you want to review the records in a spreadsheet.

See Apify's download and export guide for the available formats and field options.

Pricing

The run has a start event and result events for saved YC company records. Keep the company cap small and enable slower profile enrichment only when useful. Failed directory access can retain its start charge without saved records.

Platform usage can also apply. See the live Pricing tab for current rates and tier details.

Tips for best results

• Start small: Use maxItems: 25 while testing a new filter combination.
• Use exact batch names: Batch filters work best with full values such as Summer 2024.
• Combine filters: Pair query with regions, tags, or isHiring for focused lists.
• Profile details cost time: Enable includeProfileDetails only when founder fields matter.
• Schedule snapshots: Run the same input regularly to monitor a category or batch over time.

Limits and caveats

• The actor extracts public YC company data. It does not access private YC accounts or non-public records.
• Founder and social fields depend on what is visible on each public company profile.
• Very broad searches can take longer, especially with includeProfileDetails enabled.
• Review and use exported data in line with Apify's Terms of Service and applicable privacy rules.

A readable filtered directory with no matching companies finishes successfully with an empty dataset and a NO_MATCHING_COMPANIES summary reason. Directory failures, unexpected responses, incomplete requested profile extraction and processing-budget exhaustion fail the run even when useful company rows have already been saved. Those rows remain available. A public profile returning HTTP 404 or 410 is unavailable: the directory row is retained without inventing founder data. Billing and essential storage failures remain fatal.

Coverage is limited to 100 directory pages and 5,000 saved companies per run. Your result-charge limit can stop collection sooner. Check the run summary to distinguish that budget stop from a search with no matching companies.

RESUME_PAGE reports a directory page for an explicit later resumePage input. Keep collection settings consistent and inspect already saved IDs because a page can be repeated after a mid-page cutoff and the live directory can change. A new run has its normal start event and can charge repeated saved companies again. Restarting or resurrecting the same run does not renew extraction. Start a new run with the page marker instead. The page marker is not a stable historical directory snapshot.

Privacy and data handling

This Actor only requests the permissions needed to run the input you provide. It uses your input (such as URLs, search terms, identifiers, filters, and limits) only to fetch the requested public data from the relevant source site or API for this Actor, then writes results to your Apify dataset/key-value store.

Data may pass through Apify platform services and Apify Proxy during the run, and requests are sent only to the target site or public data provider required for this Actor's results. FetchCat does not send your inputs or outputs to advertising networks, data brokers, or model-training services, and does not retain run data outside Apify storage after the run except when you explicitly share run details for transient support debugging.

You are responsible for using this Actor lawfully, respecting the target site's terms, and avoiding unnecessary personal or sensitive data in inputs. Review the output before storing, sharing, or combining it with other data.

Automation and integrations

Save your settings for next time

Once you have an input that works for you, save it as an Apify task. This keeps your settings together so you can use them again without filling in the form from scratch.

Run on a schedule

Need fresh results regularly? You can schedule the Actor or a saved task to run at a time that suits you.

Each scheduled run collects the data again. If you want to compare results or highlight changes, add that step in your own workflow.

Send results to your other tools

Use n8n, Make or Zapier to connect this scraper to the rest of your workflow. For example, you could pass its results to an AI assistant or add records to a spreadsheet. Follow the Apify integration guides for your chosen tool.

For a custom connection, an Apify webhook can notify your app when a run finishes or fails. Your app can then fetch the results or handle the failure.

API usage

Want to collect this data from your own app or automation? The examples below send input to the scraper and show how to collect its results.

The Node.js and Python examples wait for the run to finish before reading its results. The cURL example starts the run and returns its details. Wait for that run to finish, then use its defaultDatasetId to fetch the results.

For setup instructions, see Apify's JavaScript client guide, Python client guide and Actor runs API reference.

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/fetch_cat~y-combinator-companies-scraper/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query":"AI","batch":"Summer 2024","maxItems":5,"includeProfileDetails":false}'

Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('fetch_cat/y-combinator-companies-scraper').call({
  "query": "AI",
  "batch": "Summer 2024",
  "maxItems": 5,
  "includeProfileDetails": false
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Python

import os
from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient(os.environ['APIFY_TOKEN'])
run = client.actor('fetch_cat/y-combinator-companies-scraper').call(run_input={
  "query": "AI",
  "batch": "Summer 2024",
  "maxItems": 5,
  "includeProfileDetails": False
})
print(client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items)

MCP and AI agents

You can ask your AI assistant to collect data with Y Combinator Companies Scraper and help you work with the results. The scraper returns the data, and your assistant can then summarize it, compare records or prepare notes.

Connect your assistant through the Apify MCP server. MCP gives your assistant a way to find this scraper, run it and read the results. Follow the official setup and sign-in guide for your app.

Easier setup with an Apify plugin

If you use a supported coding assistant, the official Apify plugin can set up the connection for you. It connects your assistant to Apify and includes instructions for common tasks. Follow the guide for your particular app.

Use Apify AI in Console

Prefer to keep everything in Apify? Open Apify AI in Console and ask it to find Fetch Cat's Y Combinator Companies Scraper. You can describe the data you want and ask questions about the results.

Apify AI is currently in beta. It asks for confirmation before starting an Actor, and normal run charges apply.

Choose your assistant

• Claude and Claude Code (Anthropic): Apify setup guide.
• ChatGPT and Codex (OpenAI): Apify setup guides.
• Grok Bot (xAI): Apify plugin guide.
• Gemini CLI (Google): MCP server setup guide. Use the server URL below with the HTTP configuration supported by Gemini CLI.

Connect just this scraper

To keep your setup focused on this scraper, add this server configuration to a compatible MCP client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=fetch_cat/y-combinator-companies-scraper"
    }
  }
}

Sign in to Apify when your client asks. If your client uses a Bearer token instead, follow its setup guide and keep the token in its secure configuration. Configuration formats vary by app, so use the linked guide if your client needs a different format.

Use Apify's general server

Already connected to the general Apify MCP server at https://mcp.apify.com? You can use it to find this scraper without adding another server. Ask your assistant to use Y Combinator Companies Scraper by Fetch Cat, or give it the identifier fetch_cat/y-combinator-companies-scraper.

Your assistant can check the available settings and retrieve the results from the returned run. If the run is still working, it should follow that run rather than start it again. Both connection options use Apify's hosted service.

Example requests

• “Use Fetch Cat’s Y Combinator Companies Scraper to collect up to 5 AI company records from Summer 2024 with profile details off. Keep YC links and directory classifications without claiming complete cohort coverage.”
• “Collect up to 5 Summer 2024 companies in United States of America that YC marks as hiring, with profile details off. Keep the hiring flag as a company-level source signal rather than proof of every open role.”
• “Retrieve up to 3 Developer Tools company records with public profile details enabled. Keep available founder names and links with company provenance, without inventing private contacts or verifying account ownership.”

Normal Apify charges apply. Check the live Pricing tab before asking your assistant to run a larger batch.

Pay with x402

If your AI agent has a funded wallet, it can pay for Apify usage through x402. This experimental option lets an agent use Apify without a conventional account.

Apify AGI provides a prepaid API token with a spending cap after payment. Your agent can use that token to run this scraper through the Apify API or an authenticated MCP connection.

Some MCP setups also support paying for each request directly. That is a different payment option, so check the official guide for its availability.

Follow the official guide for wallet setup, supported payment options and current terms. Apify handles the payments. Keep wallet keys and payment tokens in your agent's secure configuration.

Other ways for agents to pay

Apify also supports MPP for prepaid access through AGI and Skyfire for eligible Actors. If your agent already uses one of these, see the agentic payment guide to choose the right setup.

FAQ

Can I scrape all YC companies?

You can browse with an empty query and selected filters, but the saved-record cap, time budget and source availability still bound coverage. A single run is not a certified complete archive.

Does it include founder data?

Enable includeProfileDetails to fetch founder names and public founder links from company profile pages when available.

Can I export to CSV or Excel?

Yes. Apify datasets support CSV, JSON, Excel, XML, RSS, and API access.

Can I schedule a monitor?

Yes. Save an input as a task and schedule it in Apify to refresh a market map or lead list.

Related Actors

• Yahoo Finance Stock Data Scraper for market and ticker datasets.
• Google News Scraper for public news monitoring around companies or categories.
• LinkedIn Jobs Scraper for hiring-demand signals.
• Website Contact Finder for public contact enrichment from company websites.
• Reddit Scraper for market conversations around startup categories.

Support and feedback

For custom additions or integrations, email hello@fetchcat.dev.

Found an error or have a feature request? Open an issue with the run URL, a non-sensitive input example and what you expected.

Need help sharing it? See Apify’s guide to sharing a run when reporting an issue. Sharing a run can give the developer access to its input, logs and results, so use a run that contains no sensitive data. Please leave out API tokens, passwords, cookies, private documents and personal data. Use a public sample URL or a redacted example instead.

Tried this scraper? We'd love to hear how it worked for you. Leave a review to help others choose the right tool and help us improve it. Your feedback means a lot to us.

Made with care for curious people, AI agents and the possibilities in data. ♥