Y Combinator

Y Combinator is a startup accelerator founded in 2005 that invests $500,000 in early-stage companies in exchange for equity, then runs them through an intensive three-month program in San Francisco capped by a Demo Day pitch to investors. It has funded more than 5,000 companies - including Airbnb, Stripe, Coinbase, DoorDash, Dropbox, Reddit, Instacart and Twitch - whose combined value tops $600 billion, making YC the most influential template for how modern software startups get built and funded.