Y Combinator Scraper

Collect public Y Combinator company profiles, founder links, and open job listings. Filter the directory by batch, industry, tags, region, or hiring status and export structured results.

Use this Actor to research startups, compare YC batches, or find companies with published job openings. It collects matching public company profiles up to your requested limit and saves one company per dataset row.

Quick start

1. Open the YC company directory, choose your filters, and copy its URL.
2. Set maxItems to the number of company profiles you want. Enable founders or open jobs if you need those details.
3. Start the Actor. Open Run summary to check whether collection is complete, then view or export the saved results.

The form starts with this input:

{
  "url": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies?batch=Fall%202025&isHiring=true",
  "maxItems": 10,
  "scrapeFounders": false,
  "scrapeOpenJobs": false
}

Input

Field	Default	Meaning
url	Required	YC company directory URL, at most 4,096 characters.
maxItems	0	Integer from 0 to 10000. A positive value limits saved company profiles; 0 or an omitted field means no requested limit. The form is prefilled with 10.
scrapeFounders	false	Include current active founders and their public profile links.
scrapeOpenJobs	false	Include public job listings and links to full postings.

Use exactly https://www.ycombinator.com/companies, optionally followed by / and a query string. Company profile URLs, other hosts, HTTP URLs, and fragments such as #results are not accepted.

Directory filters

Filters belong in the URL, not in separate input fields. Supported query keys are case-sensitive:

Query keys	Accepted values
query	Search text. Use once.
batch, tags, status, regions	Values from the YC directory. Repeat the same key to include multiple values.
industry	Industry values from the YC directory. Repeat this key to include multiple values. The existing industries alias is also accepted, but use only one spelling in a URL.
isHiring, top_company, nonprofit, app_video_public, demo_day_video_public, app_answers, question_answers	true or false. Use each key once.
team_size	The YC size slider's JSON array of two strings, such as ["1","50"]. Copy the encoded value from the directory URL and use it once.

Repeated values for the same facet use OR; different facets use AND. For example, batch=Fall%202025&batch=Summer%202025&isHiring=true requests companies from either batch that also match the hiring filter.

The size slider accepts 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500, and 1,000+ as string endpoints, ordered from smaller to larger. 1,000+ is the open upper end. A URL example is https://www.ycombinator.com/companies?team_size=%5B%2225%22%2C%22250%22%5D.

Other query keys are rejected, except utm_* tracking keys, which are ignored. Each filter value is limited to 200 characters; values other than search text must not be empty. Copy available filter values from the directory rather than guessing them. A valid combination can match zero companies.

Company results

Every saved company row includes these fields. Missing text is represented as ""; fields marked nullable use null when information is unavailable. Optional web links also use empty text or null when a published link is malformed, with an explanation in data_warnings.

Field	Type	Meaning
company_name	String	Published company name.
url	URL	Public YC company profile.
company_image	String	Public logo URL, or empty text when unavailable or malformed.
short_description	String	Published one-line description.
long_description	String	Published full company description.
batch	String	YC batch.
status	String	Published company status.
tags	String array	Distinct published tags.
company_location	String	Published location.
year_founded	Integer or null	Published founding year.
team_size	Integer or null	Published team size.
primary_partner	String or null	Published YC partner name.
website	String	Company website URL, or empty text when unavailable or malformed.
company_linkedin	URL or null	Published company LinkedIn link, or null when unavailable or malformed.
company_x	URL or null	Published company X/Twitter link, or null when unavailable or malformed.
is_hiring	Boolean	Whether the public company profile lists open jobs.
number_of_open_jobs	Integer	Number of public job listings on that profile.

Hiring status and job counts are included even when scrapeOpenJobs is false. They reflect listings on the public YC company profile, not all vacancies on the company's own website. Directory filters and company profiles can update at different times.

Optional data warnings

Malformed published web links are omitted and explained in data_warnings. This optional array of messages appears only when invalid optional links are found. Omitted website and logo links use ""; omitted social links use null. The Actor does not invent corrected links. Incorrect field types still cause collection to fail.

Optional founder details

When scrapeFounders is true, founders contains the current active founders published on the profile:

Field	Meaning
id	Public YC founder ID as an integer.
name	Published founder name.
role	Published title, or empty text when absent. Roles are not inferred.
linkedin, x	Published social profile URLs, or null when unavailable or malformed.

This does not promise a complete historical list of everyone who founded or worked at the company.

Optional job listings

When scrapeOpenJobs is true, open_jobs contains the public listings on the company profile:

Field	Meaning
id	Public job posting ID as an integer.
title	Published job title.
description_url	Link to the full posting.
description	Always null; full job descriptions are not collected.
location	Published job location, or empty text.
salary	Published salary range, or empty text.
years_experience	Published experience requirement, or empty text.

An optional array is omitted when its setting is disabled. When enabled, an empty array means the public profile contains no applicable entries. Failed collection must not be interpreted as an empty founder or job list.

Run summary and completeness

The Run summary link opens the OUTPUT record in the run's key-value store:

Field	Meaning
status	running, completed, or failed.
stopReason	completed, max_items, charge_limit, or error. Read the final value after collection has stopped.
matchedCompanies	Number of matching public directory companies, or null if the total could not be established.
savedCompanies	Verified number of saved company profiles when savedCountVerified is true. Otherwise, the last confirmed count, which may be lower than the actual saved count.
savedCountVerified	Boolean. true when the saved count has been verified; false when stored results could not be reconciled and the last confirmed count may only be a lower bound.
requestedMaxItems	Your profile limit; 0 means no requested limit.
complete	true only when all matching public company profiles have been saved.
error	Explanation of a collection failure, when present.

status: "completed" does not by itself mean the entire matching directory was collected. A stop at max_items or charge_limit can leave partial results; inspect complete, stopReason, and the counts together.

If a required directory or company profile cannot be collected or validated, the run reports failure instead of silently declaring success. Previously saved profiles remain available. Failed profiles are not replaced by placeholder rows. An interrupted or forcibly stopped run can leave its last summary at running; check the run status as well.

Views and exports

• Companies Overview shows the main company fields.
• Hiring overview shows hiring fields for every saved company. It does not filter out companies without open jobs; use isHiring=true in your directory URL when you want that directory filter.
• Full Details includes the optional founder and job arrays when enabled, and data_warnings when malformed optional links were omitted.

Export results as JSON, CSV, or Excel from the dataset. JSON preserves nested founder and job arrays.

FAQ

Does omitting maxItems collect every matching company?

It requests collection without a company limit, just like maxItems: 0. Availability, run limits, or errors can still stop collection. Check the Run summary before treating the dataset as complete.

Why are there no companies?

A completed run with matchedCompanies: 0, savedCompanies: 0, and complete: true indicates that the accepted filters matched no companies. A failed or unfinished run is not evidence of no matches.

Why is a founder title, salary, or social link missing?

Only published information is returned. Missing fields are left empty or null as documented above. Malformed optional web links are also omitted, with an explanation in data_warnings; titles, salaries, and corrected links are not invented.

Why is description null for every job?

The Actor collects job listings and posting links. Open description_url to read the full job description.

Why is my URL rejected?

Use the exact HTTPS directory address, remove any fragment, and keep only supported query keys. Copy the company-size range from YC's slider. Individual company URLs are not accepted as input.

Do I need a YC account?

The Actor collects public directory and company profile information. Private, account-only information is outside its scope.

Public-data disclaimer

This Actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Y Combinator or the companies listed. It collects information published in the public YC directory and company profiles; it does not provide access to private records. Public profiles and job listings may be incomplete, outdated, changed, or removed. Verify important details at the linked source before using them for research, recruiting, or business decisions. You are responsible for following applicable terms, privacy requirements, and laws when collecting or using the data.

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