Y Combinator

Y Combinator, more an accelerator than a traditional VC, has funded over 4,000 startups including Airbnb, Stripe, Dropbox, and Coinbase, shaping the startup ecosystem through its $500,000 standard deal and influential Demo Day format. Since 2005, it has achieved a combined valuation of over $300 billion across its portfolio, a figure 30% higher than the average top-tier accelerator. Whereas #9 DST Global focuses on later-stage moonshots, YC’s early-stage model is defined by volume and speed, with 80% of its companies still active after five years, a retention rate that outperforms the typical incubator by 25 percentage points.