Y Combinator Scraper & Startup Leads API (Companies & Founders)

Ultra-fast, browserless scraper and real-time data API for the complete Y Combinator startup ecosystem (ycombinator.com/companies and ycombinator.com/founders). Extract verified company intelligence, tech tags, team metrics, hiring signals, and founder LinkedIn profiles directly via official endpoints.

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Who Buys and Uses This Actor?

• Venture Capital & Angel Investors: Spot emerging stealth startups before demo day. Filter by cohort, industry (AI, Fintech, Bio), or location to power automated dealflow pipelines.
• B2B Outbound Sales & SDR Teams: Connect with well-funded founders holding fresh capital. Obtain verified founder LinkedIn URLs and active hiring signals to time your outreach perfectly.
• Executive Recruiters & Talent Agencies: Track fast-growing YC startups with active job openings (isHiring: true) to source high-paying candidate placements.
• Market Intelligence & Corporate Development: Map tech stacks, market trends, team sizing, and alumni networks across 51 YC cohorts from W05 to W26.

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Why Choose This Scraper?

• Simple Pay-Per-Result Pricing: Priced at flat $0.003 per extracted record ($3.00 per 1,000 results). No monthly retainer or recurring subscription required.
• Zero Browser Overhead: Built on pure, asynchronous HTTP requests with sub-50ms query times. Runs efficiently on only 128 MB to 256 MB RAM.
• No 1,000-Item Pagination Wall: YC search interfaces cap results at 1,000 records per search query. This scraper automatically partitions historical batches across all 51 cohorts, letting you export the entire 6,270+ company and 13,900+ founder database without missing a single company.
• Deep Social & Founder Enrichment: Captures founder LinkedIn URLs, X / Twitter profiles, avatar photos, company socials (GitHub, Twitter, LinkedIn, Crunchbase), and active hiring flags.
• Console-Ready Table Views: Pre-configured visual Apify Console table views with company logos and clickable web links.

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Output Modes

1. Companies (outputMode: "companies"): Full company profile, funding batch, industry tags, hiring status, team size, and an array of verified founders with LinkedIn URLs.
2. Founders (outputMode: "founders"): Individual founder profiles with current titles, company affiliations, cohort batches, and direct LinkedIn profile links.
3. Both (outputMode: "both"): Combines company records and founder records in a single dataset with an itemType field.

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Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
outputMode	String	"companies"	Output format: "companies", "founders", or "both".
searchQuery	String	""	Keyword search across company name, one-liner, and description (e.g. "artificial intelligence", "fintech").
batches	Array	[]	Filter by YC batch cohorts (e.g. ["Winter 2026", "Summer 2025"]). Leave empty for all batches.
industries	Array	[]	Filter by industry (e.g. ["B2B", "Fintech", "Healthcare", "Consumer"]).
status	String	"all"	Operational status: "all", "Active", "Acquired", "Inactive", "Public".
isHiring	Boolean	false	When true, returns only startups with active job openings.
topCompanyOnly	Boolean	false	When true, filters to top-tier YC companies (e.g. Stripe, Airbnb, DoorDash, Coinbase).
includeDeepDetails	Boolean	true	Enriches company records with founder LinkedIn links, bios, and company social handles.
maxItems	Integer	50	Maximum number of records to return. Increase for bulk syncs.

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JSON Input Examples

Example 1: Active AI Companies Hiring Now

{
  "outputMode": "companies",
  "searchQuery": "artificial intelligence",
  "status": "Active",
  "isHiring": true,
  "includeDeepDetails": true,
  "maxItems": 100
}

Example 2: Recent Cohort Founder Outreach Pipeline

{
  "outputMode": "founders",
  "batches": ["Winter 2026", "Summer 2025"],
  "industries": ["B2B", "Fintech"],
  "maxItems": 250
}

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JSON Output Examples

Company Record (outputMode: "companies")

{
  "id": 240,
  "name": "Stripe",
  "slug": "stripe",
  "website": "http://stripe.com",
  "one_liner": "Economic infrastructure for the internet.",
  "long_description": "Stripe is a technology company that builds economic infrastructure for the internet. Businesses of every size use our software to accept payments and manage their businesses online.",
  "batch": "Summer 2009",
  "status": "Active",
  "stage": "Growth",
  "team_size": 7000,
  "year_founded": "2009",
  "location": "San Francisco, CA, USA",
  "city": "San Francisco",
  "country": "US",
  "regions": [
    "United States of America",
    "America / Canada"
  ],
  "industry": "Fintech",
  "subindustry": "Fintech",
  "tags": [
    "Fintech",
    "Payments",
    "SaaS",
    "B2B"
  ],
  "top_company": true,
  "isHiring": true,
  "small_logo_thumb_url": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/e5ccedd9995f6524b4a0379062eb67f7c991613e.png",
  "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/stripe/",
  "twitter_url": "https://twitter.com/stripe",
  "github_url": "https://github.com/stripe",
  "crunchbase_url": "https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/stripe",
  "founders": [
    {
      "name": "Patrick Collison",
      "title": "Founder/CEO",
      "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickcollison/",
      "twitter_url": "https://twitter.com/patrickc",
      "avatar_thumb": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/avatars/240.png",
      "bio": "Co-founder and CEO of Stripe.",
      "is_active": true
    },
    {
      "name": "John Collison",
      "title": "Founder/President",
      "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbcollison/",
      "twitter_url": "https://twitter.com/collision",
      "avatar_thumb": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/avatars/241.png",
      "bio": "Co-founder and President of Stripe.",
      "is_active": true
    }
  ]
}

Founder Record (outputMode: "founders")

{
  "id": 14210,
  "first_name": "Patrick",
  "last_name": "Collison",
  "full_name": "Patrick Collison",
  "current_company": "Stripe",
  "company_slug": "stripe",
  "current_title": "Co-Founder and CEO",
  "batches": [
    "S09"
  ],
  "linkedin_url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickcollison/",
  "twitter_url": null,
  "avatar_thumb": "https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/avatars/240.png",
  "regions": "San Francisco Bay Area",
  "top_company": true
}

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Step-by-Step No-Code Integration Guides

Connect Y Combinator intelligence directly into your daily dealflow, outbound prospecting, or CRM stack without writing custom code.

1. Google Sheets (Live Data Sync)

Sync freshly funded YC startups into your Google Spreadsheet automatically:

• Instant Formula: In cell A1 of any Google Sheet, paste:

  =IMPORTDATA("https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/{DATASET_ID}/items?format=csv&clean=1")
  

  (Replace {DATASET_ID} with the dataset ID from your Actor run).
• Scheduled Sync via Apify: Go to the Integrations tab of this Actor in Apify Console, select Google Sheets, and connect your target spreadsheet. New records will append automatically on every scheduled batch run.

2. Make.com (CRM & Slack Notifications)

Set up automated alerts for newly funded companies:

1. Create a new scenario in Make.com and add the Apify: Run Actor module.
2. Select kamerozkan/yc-companies-founders-scraper and configure your search filter (e.g. status = "Active", isHiring = true).
3. Add a Filter step: Keep records where industry = "Fintech" or isHiring = true.
4. Add a HubSpot / Salesforce / Notion module: Create new company and contact records with founder LinkedIn profile URLs.
5. Add a Slack module: Post high-priority dealflow alerts into your #dealflow-alerts channel.

3. n8n Workflow (Cold Outbound Prospecting)

Automate founder outreach sequences:

1. In n8n, add an Apify Node triggered by a schedule (e.g. every Monday morning).
2. Set outputMode to "founders" with your target YC batches (e.g. ["Winter 2026"]).
3. Pass the founder list into an email verification node or data enrichment service (Clay, Hunter, Apollo).
4. Auto-enroll verified founder contacts into your cold outreach platform (Instantly, Smartlead).

4. Webhooks (Real-Time Backend Push)

Send extracted data straight to your custom API or webhook endpoint upon run completion:

1. In the Apify Actor console, navigate to the Integrations tab.
2. Click Add Webhook and paste your webhook endpoint URL (e.g. https://api.yourcompany.com/webhooks/yc-leads).
3. Select the trigger event: ACTOR.RUN.SUCCEEDED.
4. Your server will receive an HTTP POST request containing the run metadata and dataset URL as soon as the run finishes.

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Automated Weekly Schedule (Recurring Retention Recipe)

Do not run scrapers manually every time Y Combinator updates. Set up an automated weekly schedule to keep your pipeline continuously refreshed with newly funded startups and founders:

1. Open the Schedules Tab: In your Apify Console, navigate to Schedules > Create new schedule.
2. Set Cron Expression: Choose Every Monday at 08:00 UTC (0 8 * * 1) to receive fresh deals at the start of every business week.
3. Select Actor: Choose kamerozkan/yc-companies-founders-scraper and configure your target criteria (e.g. status: "Active", isHiring: true, outputMode: "companies").
4. Auto-Sync to Google Sheets / CRM: Under the Actor's Integrations tab, select Google Sheets (or webhook to HubSpot/Salesforce). New weekly records will automatically append to your live spreadsheet.
5. Team Alerts: Connect Slack integration to ping your #dealflow or #sales-leads channel every Monday morning with the newly extracted startups.

This automated recipe transforms one-off data exports into a continuous, hands-off dealflow engine for your investment or sales team.

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Pay-Per-Event Pricing Value Proposition

Item	This Apify Actor
Pricing Model	Pay-Per-Event ($0.003 / record)
Cost for 1,000 Startups	$3.00 flat
Cost for 10,000 Records	$30.00 flat
Proxy / Bandwidth Fees	None (no proxy needed)
Memory	Browserless, 128 MB RAM
More than 1,000 results	Full 51-batch partitioning
Founder LinkedIn URLs	Included in every record

Zero recurring subscription fees. You only pay for the exact volume of startup and founder records you extract.

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Developer Quickstart & Organic Search Engine Keywords

Target high-intent search terms: y combinator companies scraper github, yc founder dataset, y combinator api, yc dealflow scraper, scrape y combinator, y combinator linkedin extractor.

Python Quickstart

from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize client with your Apify API token
client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")

# Configure scraper input
run_input = {
    "outputMode": "companies",
    "searchQuery": "fintech",
    "status": "Active",
    "isHiring": True,
    "maxItems": 50,
}

# Run scraper actor
run = client.actor("kamerozkan/yc-companies-founders-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print results
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(f"{item['name']} ({item['batch']}) - {item.get('website')}")

Node.js / JavaScript Quickstart

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN',
});

const input = {
    outputMode: 'companies',
    searchQuery: 'artificial intelligence',
    isHiring: true,
    maxItems: 50,
};

const run = await client.actor('kamerozkan/yc-companies-founders-scraper').call(input);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(`Retrieved ${items.length} YC companies.`);

Direct cURL Command

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/kamerozkan~yc-companies-founders-scraper/runs?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"outputMode": "companies", "searchQuery": "ai", "maxItems": 50}'

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does this scraper require residential proxies? No. All requests query direct structured API endpoints without browser automation or aggressive bot challenges. You incur zero proxy bandwidth expenses.

How do you handle YC pagination limits? The Y Combinator web frontend caps search queries at 1,000 items. This Actor automatically partitions requests across all 51 historical cohorts (W05 to W26), allowing you to extract all 6,270+ companies and 13,900+ founders without data truncation.

Can I extract only founder profiles? Yes. Set outputMode to "founders" to extract individual founder records containing full names, current roles, company slugs, and verified LinkedIn URLs.

How up-to-date is the startup data? Data is fetched live during every run directly from Y Combinator directory indices. As soon as a startup launches on YC or an existing company updates hiring status, your next run captures the latest changes immediately.

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Support and feedback

• Found a bug or missing a field? Open an issue on the Issues tab of this Actor. We reply within 48 hours and ship most fixes within a few days.
• Have an idea for a feature? Issues are the fastest way to get it built.
• If the Actor saves you time, a short review on this page helps other users find it.