AcceleratorAI-first

Y Combinator

The accelerator. $500K, 3 months in San Francisco, four batches a year.

Invests

$500K

Takes

7% + MFN SAFE

Length

3 months

Where

San Francisco

The deal

$125,000 on a post-money SAFE for 7% of the company, plus $375,000 on an uncapped, most-favored-nation SAFE that converts at the terms of your next priced round.

YC funds ~125 companies per batch and a majority are now AI companies. You get a group partner, weekly dinners and office hours, the YC network, and Demo Day in front of every seed investor who matters. Founders relocate to the Bay Area for the batch.

Invests: $500K
Takes: 7% + MFN SAFE
Length: 3 months
Format: In person
Based in: San Francisco, US
Runs in: San Francisco
Stage: Idea to early revenue
Focus: Everything; AI agents, infra, robotics and vertical AI dominate recent batches
Cohorts: Four batches a year: Winter (Jan–Mar), Spring (Apr–Jun), Summer (Jun–Sep), Fall (Sep–Dec). 2026 Demo Days: Mar 24, Jun 16, Sep 10, Dec 2.
Acceptance: ~1–2%
Perks: $500K+ in cloud and AI credits (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, OpenAI, Anthropic) via YC deals

Notable alumni and portfolio

CursorPerplexityScale AIAirbnbStripeOpenAI (founders)

Apply ↗Website ↗Ask the room

Terms as published by the program; verified October 2026. Programs change their deal every year, the apply page is the source of truth.

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