# Y Combinator Companies Scraper | Directory API, No Key (`hridayrungta/ycombinator-companies-scraper`) Actor

Every YC company via the directory own public search API - no login, no browser. Filter by batch, industry or hiring status. Incremental mode returns only new companies since your last run. Name, description, team size, tags, launch date. $0.60 per 1,000 rows.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/hridayrungta/ycombinator-companies-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Hriday Rungta](https://apify.com/hridayrungta) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$0.60 / 1,000 company scrapeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Y Combinator Companies Scraper — directory's own API, no key

**Every YC company — no login, no browser.** Reads the exact same public, read-only search API
the official YC directory page's own search box uses. Turn on incremental mode and every run
after the first returns only companies new since the previous one.

**$0.60 per 1,000 rows.** No start fee.

***

### What you get

One row per company: `name`, `oneLiner`, `longDescription`, `website`, `location`, `teamSize`,
`industry`, `industries`, `tags`, `batch`, `status`, `stage`, `isHiring`, `topCompany`,
`launchedAtIso`, and `ycUrl`.

**What this Actor does not include**: founder names or emails. Those require scraping each
company's individual profile page and are not part of the directory's own search index this
Actor reads from - reported honestly as out of scope rather than guessed or fabricated.

### How this works

YC's own directory page (`ycombinator.com/companies`) loads its search results from a public
Algolia index using a key embedded directly in the page for the page's own search box to use.
This Actor calls that same index directly. The key is a "secured" Algolia key, but decoding it
shows it is scoped read-only to the public directory data (`tagFilters: ["ycdc_public"]`) - the
same data any visitor's browser already receives, just read directly instead of through the page.

### Incremental mode

Uses YC's own by-launch-date index, verified strictly newest-first, so paging can stop the moment
it reaches a company you already have. The mark advances only from companies this run actually
saved, and always advances even on a capped run - the same fix this developer's Reddit Actor
needed after a real bug there.

### Input at a glance

| Input | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| `searchQuery` | — | free-text search |
| `batch` | — | e.g. "Summer 2013" |
| `industry` | — | e.g. "Fintech" |
| `isHiring` | any | any / hiring / not hiring |
| `mode` | `all` | `all` or `changes` |
| `maxItems` | `500` | cost cap — billed once per row saved |
| `firstRunSince` | `90 days` | `changes` mode only; `"all"` backfills the full directory |

### Billing

Pay per event, charged once per company row saved, **no start fee**:

| Event | Price | When |
|---|---|---|
| `company-scraped` | $0.0006 | one company row |

Set `maxItems` as your cost cap.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Free-text search across company name and description. Leave empty to browse all companies (optionally filtered below).

## `batch` (type: `string`):

e.g. "Summer 2013", "Winter 2026". Leave empty for all batches.

## `industry` (type: `string`):

e.g. "Fintech", "Healthcare". Leave empty for all industries.

## `isHiring` (type: `string`):

Restrict to companies currently hiring, or not - or leave as "Any" for no filter.

## `mode` (type: `string`):

"all": every matching company. "changes": only companies new since your last run for this exact filter combination.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Cost cap - you're billed once per row saved.

## `firstRunSince` (type: `string`):

A source's first incremental run only takes companies launched since this date/span. Default "90 days"; "all" backfills the full directory.

## `maxRetries` (type: `integer`):

Retries with backoff for network errors and 5xx responses.

## `stateStoreName` (type: `string`):

Name of the key-value store (in YOUR account) that holds the high-water mark per source. Leave blank for the default.

## `stateNamespace` (type: `string`):

Advanced: an explicit namespace for the mark key. Leave blank to namespace by your Apify user id automatically.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQuery": "",
  "batch": "",
  "industry": "",
  "isHiring": "any",
  "mode": "all",
  "maxItems": 500,
  "firstRunSince": "90 days",
  "maxRetries": 3,
  "stateStoreName": "",
  "stateNamespace": ""
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("hridayrungta/ycombinator-companies-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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("hridayrungta/ycombinator-companies-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call hridayrungta/ycombinator-companies-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,hridayrungta/ycombinator-companies-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/BKWghQvmhPJHLEndq/builds/xZ8R3lDLqxrgk2Rtl/openapi.json