We flew to San Francisco for YC’s Summer 2026 Demo Day. We go every batch for two reasons: spending time with the founders we have already invested in and sitting down with the ones we want to invest in next.
This was the largest batch YC has ever run, and the level was super high, as always.
Here is what the batch looked like by the numbers
The companies were 234 companies, up about 20% from the previous batch.
The short version: half the batch is still software sold to businesses, and the fastest-growing half is atoms. That is the shift we went in looking for, and it is the shift that decided most of our checks.
We wrote checks into six companies:
RonanRx
Aktoria Robotics
Prodigy Research
DeepReach
TryNearby
Amorphic Labs.
Plenty of others impressed us without a check attached, such as: Exosat, Isengard Industries, Gutgutgoose and Shiraz AI.
For each of the ten below you get the same four blocks: problem / solution / team / traction.
And because the Winter 2027 deadline is November 2, the last chapter of this guide is the complete YC Application Pack 👇
What’s Inside the YC Application Pack
📗 The 12 YC Application Principles That Actually Matter A tactical guide to what YC really looks for, backed by advice from Paul Graham, Dalton Caldwell and founders who got in successfully. It includes the exact frameworks, application breakdowns, and insider advice founders used to get into Dropbox, GitLab, Martin, and more.
🍾 50+ Successful Applications (Dropbox, GitLab, Paystack...) A curated sheet with real YC applications from previous batches, including legacy names like Dropbox and GitLab, and newer ones like Paystack and KeyWords AI. Use them as references to model your own.
❓ Question-by-Question Answer Guide by Martin, Bolto, Shogun and Fluently’s Founders A doc-style walkthrough of the YC application, with practical advice on how to answer each question, straight from founders who got in (all in one place). No fluff. Just clear, tactical pointers for every field.
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