# AnswerThis

> AnswerThis is an AI research assistant that turns literature reviews from months of work into minutes. It searches a database of more than 250 million academic papers and answers complex scientific questions with line-by-line, verifiable citations. Founded by University of Richmond seniors Ayush Garg and Ryan McCarroll and backed by Y Combinator (Fall 2025), the platform is used by over 250,000 researchers and crossed $1M in annual recurring revenue within eight months.

- **Founded:** 2024
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, United States
- **Founders:** Ayush Garg (CEO & Founder), Ryan McCarroll (CMO & Co-founder)
- **Team size:** 9 (approx. 6-9 employees)
- **Products:** AI Literature Review, Citation Maps, Research Gap Finder, AI Writing Assistant
- **Notable:** First University of Richmond-founded company accepted into Y Combinator, Selected for YC Fall 2025 from ~10,000 applicants (roughly 1% acceptance), Over 250,000 researchers on the platform

## Products & services

- **AI Literature Review** — Searches 250M+ academic papers and drafts comprehensive, multi-paragraph literature reviews with line-by-line citations to original sources.
- **Citation Maps** — Generates visual maps of how papers cite one another, surfacing foundational and highly-cited work on a topic.
- **Research Gap Finder** — Analyzes existing literature to identify unexplored areas, contradictions, and knowledge gaps worth investigating.
- **AI Writing Assistant** — Integrated citation-aware writing canvas with advanced exports that preserve citations and equations, plus Zotero and Mendeley integration.

## Achievements

- First University of Richmond-founded company accepted into Y Combinator
- Selected for YC Fall 2025 from ~10,000 applicants (roughly 1% acceptance)
- Over 250,000 researchers on the platform
- Crossed $1M ARR within 8 months
- One of YC F25's most-visited in-batch startups (~266k monthly visitors)
- Won the RIoT Accelerator Program (Raleigh) and selected for Accelerate D.C. top student pitch (2024)

## Latest updates

- **2025-09** — Closed seed funding and joined Y Combinator's Fall 2025 batch.
- **2025-10** — Featured in Y Combinator's launch as 'the AI research assistant', reporting 250,000+ researchers.
- **2026-01** — Reported crossing $1M ARR within eight months and ranking among the fastest-growing research apps.

## Links

- Website: https://answerthis.io
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/answerthis
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/_ayushgarg_

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/answerthis-yc-f25
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-31