20 countries are represented</p>\n<ul>\n<li>6 new countries represented: Algeria, Tunisia, Senegal, Chile, Brazil, and Singapore</li>\n<li>Of the companies that are new to the list, 28% are outside of the US.</li>\n</ul>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p>Top 10 valuation jumps since July 2021:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/flock-safety/">Flock Safety</a> (jumped 74 spots to #31)</li>\n<li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/solugen/">Solugen (jumped 74 spots to #51)</li>\n<li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/gem/">Gem (jumped 69 spots to #76)</li>\n<li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/modern-treasury/">Modern Treasury</a> (jumped 52 spots to #48)</li>\n<li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/xendit/">Xendit (jumped 49 spots to #37)</li>\n<li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/captivateiq/">CaptivateIQ (jumped 35 spots to #71)</li>\n<li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/easypost/">EasyPost (jumped 34 spots to #60)</li>\n<li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/h1/">H1 (jumped 30 spots to #98)</li>\n<li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/veriff/">Veriff (jumped 28 spots to #61)</li>\n<li><a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/promise/">Promise (jumped 21 spots to #121)</li>\n</ul>\n</li>\n</ul>\n<p>You can read more about some of the featured companies <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/topcompanies/featured/">here.
/nOne thing to note is that this is not an exhaustive list of YC’s top companies. We allowed founders to opt out of being listed for any reason. Here's the <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/">full list</a> of YC companies.</p>\n<p>Congratulations to all of the fantastic companies highlighted here. We’re delighted to be part of their stories and hope these lists help potential employees, customers and investors identify companies they’d like to work with as well.<br>\n<br></p>\n<p><em>This list was published in late February 2022, just as the fighting in Ukraine began. We didn’t think it was an appropriate moment to be celebratory, and wanted to take time to turn our attention to <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/supporting-ukraine/">the Ukrainian people</a> and the YC community being impacted by the invasion of Ukraine.</em><br>\n<br></p>\n<hr class=\"footnotes-sep\">\n<section class=\"footnotes\">\n<ol class=\"footnotes-list\">\n<li id=\"fn1\" class=\"footnote-item\"><p>Why do we use valuation? We have always said that valuation is not the best way to measure a company’s value, and we consistently warn our companies not to over-optimize their fundraising for a high valuation. That said, it’s the most commonly available metric to compare companies in the startup world. Other metrics, like revenue, are often kept private. We have a number of impressive companies who would appear on the list or rank even higher if we counted other metrics (revenue, revenue/employee, etc). <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"#fnref1\" class=\"footnote-backref\">↩︎</a></p>\n</li>\n</ol>\n</section>\n<!--kg-card-end: markdown-->","comment_id":"620da5f7d710a50001fba7dd","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/yc-top-companies-list-og-image-2.png","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2022-02-16T17:33:43.000-08:00","updated_at":"2022-04-19T16:33:56.000-07:00","published_at":"2022-02-28T08:44:00.000-08:00","custom_excerpt":"We’re excited to share the 2022 YC Top Companies. 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If they pay you in this tough environment, it's a stronger signal. There’s a higher likelihood you’re building something they really want.</p><p>And though our <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"https://www.ycombinator.com/deal/">new standard deal</a> of $500,000 gives you some slack, you will likely have to develop very smart habits around spending because fundraising is harder. Learning how to <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"http://www.paulgraham.com/aord.html/">stay alive</a> is arguably the most important skill you can have as a founder.</p><p>I don’t think it’s a coincidence that two of the top YC companies, Airbnb and Stripe, were started in the depths of the last recession (2009).* They learned how important it is to build something people want and not assume investors will be there to save them early on.</p><p>None of this is new. It’s common knowledge, especially in the tech community, that many successful startups were created during recessions (just search “startups + recession” and you’ll find a bunch of articles), which may be one reason we’ve seen high numbers of applications from founders leaving their big tech company jobs, especially in the last couple of months.</p><p>If running a startup is like commanding an army, then YC is elite basic training. You’ll learn how to navigate the challenges (or realize you’re not up for it) when your company is small and with the support of advisors and YC batchmates. You’ll build a solid foundation of learning how to build something people want and staying alive. </p><p>The YC training prepares you by default for succeeding through recessions. And it’s easier to internalize that training today when the macroenvironment supports it. The alternative is learning it on the battlefield when the stakes are way higher — when you’ve already raised money and have employees who depend on you. </p><p>As YC founder Paul Graham <a href=https://www.ycombinator.com/"http://www.paulgraham.com/die.html/">wrote, “Bad shit is coming. It always is in a startup.” If you’re interested in starting a startup, we’re entering a counterintuitively good time to do it. It won’t be easy, but if you get through the early days, you’ll be better prepared than most. And if the challenge excites you, you probably have the right personality for it.</p><p>*Their products were also tailored to a cost-sensitive environment. Stripe made it easier for brick-and-mortar businesses to cut costs by selling online and Airbnb created a new income stream for hosts and lower-priced accommodations for travelers.</p>","comment_id":"63ed7c5ebb97530001aa5cd2","feature_image":"/blog/content/images/2023/02/stephblog.png","featured":true,"visibility":"public","email_recipient_filter":"none","created_at":"2023-02-15T16:44:14.000-08:00","updated_at":"2023-02-21T08:30:00.000-08:00","published_at":"2023-02-21T08:30:00.000-08:00","custom_excerpt":"In an economic downturn, there are obvious downsides of starting a startup — but there are also powerful upsides; because to survive, you have to *actually* build something people want.","codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"custom_template":null,"canonical_url":null,"authors":[{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a710c8","name":"Stephanie Simon","slug":"stephanie","profile_image":"/blog/content/images/2022/02/steph-af6b11e61b7a3c55b099c780fe0a359236ceaab496850b530d178aedb8cefb2c.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Stephanie Simon is the Head of Admissions at Y Combinator. \n\nPrior to YC, she was a software engineer at Earnest and co-founded Murmur, a venture-backed local search startup.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/stephanie/"}],"tags":[{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71173","name":"YC News","slug":"yc-news","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/yc-news/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a7116d","name":"Essay","slug":"essay","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/essay/"},{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a7117d","name":"Admissions","slug":"admissions","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/admissions/"},{"id":"63ed8ba5bb97530001aa5ced","name":"#271","slug":"hash-271","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"},{"id":"63ed8ba5bb97530001aa5cee","name":"#240","slug":"hash-240","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"internal","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/404/"}],"primary_author":{"id":"61fe29e3c7139e0001a710c8","name":"Stephanie Simon","slug":"stephanie","profile_image":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/content/images/2022/02/steph-af6b11e61b7a3c55b099c780fe0a359236ceaab496850b530d178aedb8cefb2c.jpg","cover_image":null,"bio":"Stephanie Simon is the Head of Admissions at Y Combinator. \n\nPrior to YC, she was a software engineer at Earnest and co-founded Murmur, a venture-backed local search startup.","website":null,"location":null,"facebook":null,"twitter":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/author/stephanie/"},"primary_tag":{"id":"61fe29efc7139e0001a71173","name":"YC News","slug":"yc-news","description":null,"feature_image":null,"visibility":"public","og_image":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"twitter_image":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"meta_title":null,"meta_description":null,"codeinjection_head":null,"codeinjection_foot":null,"canonical_url":null,"accent_color":null,"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/tag/yc-news/"},"url":"https://ghost.prod.ycinside.com/why-would-you-start-a-startup-in-an-economic-downturn/","excerpt":"There will likely be a recession in 2023, and the major downsides to starting a startup are obvious: There is less money in the system so selling and fundraising are harder; 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by Garry Tan5/24/2023

To help you make a startup that matters, it helps to have people who have been in the idea maze — trying to get product-market fit, finding it, and holding on to it – to get you through that maze yourself. If you’ve been in there at all, you know how hard it is to even find product-market fit, let alone keep it.
I’m proud to say our newest group partner is Tom Blomfield, who has been there not once but twice, and twice emerged with a billion-dollar company.
I first met Tom in 2011 when he went through YC with GoCardless, an online payments processor for the Direct Debit system and Tom’s first billion-dollar company. I was a YC partner at the time, and office hours with Tom quickly proved that he was an extremely smart, direct, yet empathetic founder.
In 2015, Tom went on to create Monzo, one of the first app-based challenger banks in the UK and his second billion-dollar company. In 2021, he returned to YC as a visiting group partner for the most recent three batches.
When it comes to group partners, we look for the most experienced founders to mentor startups throughout the batch. While most people spend their career building up that experience in one area, Tom has domain expertise in multiple — B2B software with GoCardless, and consumer/viral marketing with Monzo. He has a unique set of skills as someone who led as both a technical co-founder (at GoCardless) and CEO (at Monzo), and the rare experience of scaling not one, but two, massively successful companies.
Today, the YC community is made up of more than 90 billion-dollar companies and that number is always growing. Tom leverages his experience to advise alumni at every stage of their startup – whether it’s just figuring out if an idea works, putting a board together, growing a team to thousands of employees, running multiple offices, or later-stage fundraising. There’s not a startup that he can’t give useful advice to, always drawn from his own experience.
The traits I saw in Tom as a founder in 2011 have proven to be extremely beneficial as a group partner. He’s direct with founders while having empathy for the difficulties of being one. He helps founders see that the smallest ideas can lead to world-changing companies, and he provides them with the optimism needed at the lowest points in the founder journey.
We now have the largest number of group partners in YC history. We’re increasingly finding that our best alumni are coming back to be group partners to shepherd in the next generation. Tom is no exception. His experience has already proven invaluable to the YC community, and we’re so thrilled he has joined as a group partner!
Other Posts

Garry is the President & CEO of Y Combinator. Previously, he was the co-founder & Managing Partner of Initialized Capital. Before that, he co-founded Posterous (YC S08) which was acquired by Twitter.