# Y Combinator Companies Scraper with Founders and Batch Filters (`talcoe/yc-companies`) Actor

Scrape the YC company directory by keyword, batch, industry, status or hiring, with team size, location, tags and optional founders, billed per result.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/talcoe/yc-companies.md
- **Developed by:** [M Usama](https://apify.com/talcoe) (community)
- **Categories:** Business, Lead generation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 results

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

### What does Y Combinator Companies Scraper do?

It returns companies from the public Y Combinator directory (ycombinator.com/companies): name, batch, status, team size, industry, one liner, website, location, tags, hiring flag and more. Turn on `includeFounders` to also get each company's founders with titles, LinkedIn and Twitter links. Filter by keyword, batch, industry, status or hiring so you only pay for the companies you want. Pricing is per result.

### Data source

The directory's own public search index, the same one the YC companies page queries for every visitor, so the data is as fresh as the website (about 6,000 companies).

### Why use it?

- Build lead lists of startups by batch, industry or location, for sales, recruiting or investor outreach.
- Track new YC batches and see which companies are hiring.
- Research a market: every YC company tagged with a keyword like "insurance" or "climate".
- Replaces copying rows from the website by hand.

### How to use it

1. Open the Actor and set the filters.
2. Click Start. Download results as JSON, CSV or Excel, or read them through the API.
3. Add a Schedule and an Integration (Slack, Google Sheets, webhook) to get new records automatically.

### Input

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `search` | Free text matched against name, description, tags and location. |
| `batches` | Batch names such as `Winter 2025` or `Summer 2023`. Empty means all batches. |
| `industries` | Top level industry: B2B, Consumer, Fintech, Healthcare, Industrials, and so on. |
| `statuses` | Active, Inactive, Acquired or Public. |
| `hiringOnly` | Only companies with open jobs. |
| `includeFounders` | Adds founders and company social links by visiting each company page. Slower. |
| `maxResults` | Hard stop for the run. You are billed per result, so this caps the cost. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | Apify proxy is recommended for larger runs. |

Example input:

```json
{ "batches": ["Winter 2025"], "industries": ["Fintech"], "includeFounders": true, "maxResults": 50 }
```

### Output

Every record has the same shape (trimmed example):

```json
{
  "id": "yc:30357",
  "name": "Vantel",
  "batch": "Winter 2025",
  "status": "Active",
  "teamSize": 5,
  "industry": "Fintech",
  "subindustry": "Fintech -> Insurance",
  "oneLiner": "AI Platform for Commercial Insurance Brokerages",
  "website": "https://vantel.com/",
  "location": "Stockholm, Stockholm County, Sweden",
  "stage": "Early",
  "isHiring": false,
  "tags": ["Documents", "Insurance", "CRM"],
  "ycUrl": "https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/vantel",
  "founders": [
    { "name": "Love Redin", "title": "Founder/CEO", "linkedinUrl": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/love-redin/", "twitterUrl": "https://x.com/redinvantel" }
  ],
  "yearFounded": 2024
}
```

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `id` | Stable key, safe for deduplication between runs |
| `batch`, `status`, `stage` | YC batch, company status, funding stage |
| `teamSize`, `industry`, `subindustry`, `tags`, `regions` | Size and classification |
| `website`, `location`, `ycUrl` | Where to find the company |
| `isHiring`, `topCompany`, `nonprofit` | YC flags |
| `founders`, `yearFounded`, social links | Only with `includeFounders` |

### Pricing

Pay per event: a small fee when a run starts, then a fixed price per result returned. You only pay for records that pass your filters. Set `maxResults` to cap any run.

### Limitations

- Only information YC publishes on its public directory. Founder emails and phone numbers are not available.
- Founders are fetched from each company page, so runs with `includeFounders` are slower.
- Some older companies have no founder list or team size.

### FAQ

**Is this legal?** The Actor reads listings the site publishes for any visitor without a login and stores only business information published for that purpose. You are responsible for how you use the data.

**Something is missing or broken?** Open an issue in the Issues tab; response time is usually under a day.

# Actor input Schema

## `search` (type: `string`):

Free text matched against company name, description, tags and location. Leave empty for all companies.

## `batches` (type: `array`):

Only companies from these YC batches, for example Winter 2024 or Summer 2023. Leave empty for all batches.

## `industries` (type: `array`):

Top level YC industry: B2B, Consumer, Fintech, Healthcare, Industrials, Real Estate and Construction, Education, Government, Unspecified.

## `statuses` (type: `array`):

Active, Inactive, Acquired or Public. Leave empty for all.

## `hiringOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Only companies that currently list open jobs.

## `includeFounders` (type: `boolean`):

Visit each company page to add founders (name, title, LinkedIn, Twitter) and company social links. Slower.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Hard stop for the run. You are billed per result, so this caps the cost.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Apify proxy is recommended for larger runs.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "search": "",
  "batches": [
    "Winter 2025"
  ],
  "industries": [],
  "statuses": [],
  "hiringOnly": false,
  "includeFounders": false,
  "maxResults": 100,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# 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 = {
    "search": "",
    "batches": [
        "Winter 2025"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": false
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("talcoe/yc-companies").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 = {
    "search": "",
    "batches": ["Winter 2025"],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": False },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("talcoe/yc-companies").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 '{
  "search": "",
  "batches": [
    "Winter 2025"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}' |
apify call talcoe/yc-companies --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/ZPqmzVpOgyQBnBTPy/builds/dfZOIlS6tG3tKUA41/openapi.json