# Nicolas Dessaigne

> Nicolas Dessaigne is the French co-founder and former CEO of Algolia and a General Partner at Y Combinator. After twelve years in information retrieval at Exalead and Thales, he co-founded Algolia with Julien Lemoine in 2012, helped pivot it from offline mobile search to a hosted search API, and led it to approximately 350 employees before hiring Bernadette Nixon as his successor in 2020. His public work focuses on early-stage founders, developer businesses, hiring and company culture.

- **Role:** General Partner at Y Combinator
- **Organizations:** Y Combinator, Algolia, Exalead, Arisem - Thales, Founders Pledge
- **From:** Laval, France
- **Nationality:** French
- **Education:** M.S. in Computer Science, ESIEA, Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of Nantes
- **Known for:** Co-founded Algolia and led it to approximately 350 employees before the 2020 CEO succession., Helped develop Algolia from offline mobile search into a global search API business., Joined Y Combinator as a full-time partner in 2021.

## Career timeline

- **1999** — Graduated from ESIEA.
- **2001-2012** — Worked in information retrieval at Arisem - Thales and Exalead, including technology and R&D leadership roles.
- **2005** — Completed a Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Nantes.
- **2012** — Co-founded Algolia with Julien Lemoine; served as CEO.
- **2013** — Pivoted from offline mobile search to hosted search for web applications; Socialcam became the first customer.
- **2014** — Algolia participated in Y Combinator’s Winter 2014 batch.
- **2015** — Algolia raised an $18.3 million Series A; Dessaigne moved to the United States.
- **2019** — Algolia announced a $110 million Series C.
- **2020** — Hired Bernadette Nixon as successor CEO; retained a board role at the transition. Joined YC as a visiting partner.
- **2021** — YC announced his appointment as a full-time Group Partner on November 22, following two batches as a visiting partner.
- **2026** — YC lists him as a General Partner and as primary partner for Fall 2026 companies including RightNow and Covera.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Algolia and led it to approximately 350 employees before the 2020 CEO succession.
- Helped develop Algolia from offline mobile search into a global search API business.
- Joined Y Combinator as a full-time partner in 2021.
- YC’s profile records more than 3,000 office hours across 12 batches, as accessed October 22, 2026.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — Research check: YC’s current directory identifies Dessaigne as a General Partner and primary partner for RightNow and Covera in Fall 2026.
- **2026-07** — Thomas Yeddou published an interview-based profile, The Listener, covering Algolia, the CEO succession and Dessaigne’s approach to advising founders.
- **2025-10** — Appeared on SaaS Connection episode #179, released October 17, to discuss YC and startups in the AI era.

## Links

- Website: https://www.ycombinator.com/people/nicolas-dessaigne
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolasdessaigne/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/dessaigne
- GitHub: https://github.com/dessaigne

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/nicolas-dessaigne
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-22