May 19, 2010
Y Combinator closes $8.25 million fund
Sequoia Ventures is lead investor in new round that promises more startups will get funding
Y Combinator has just closed a new $8.25 million fund led once again by Sequoia Ventures and backed up once again by a collective of prominent angels, including Ron Conway, Paul Buchheit, Aydin Senkut, XG Ventures, and Geoff Ralston.
Back in March 2009, Y Combinator raised a $2 million fund led by Sequoia and backed by angel investors Ron Conway, Paul Buchheit, and Aydin Senkut.
"The new fund is more than four times larger than the preceding one, partly because it's meant to last for several years, and partly because we're going to use it to increase the number of startups we fund," writes Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham.
There will be at least 35 companies participating in the summer 2010 funding cycle, quite a jump from the 27 startups that participated in the winter 2010 cycle. Graham boasts that 20 of those 27 startups have already attained profitability or have secured commitments for more funding.
Started in 2005, Y Combinator provides seed money ($20,000 or less), advice, and connections to startups via two annual three-month programs. Up until last year, the only money the company used came from its four founders: Paul Graham, Robert Morris, Jessica Livingston, and Trevor Blackwell. So far, Y Combinator has funded companies as notable as Airbnb, Heyzap, reddit, Loopt, Justin.tv, Dropbox, Cloudkick, and Posterous (the simple blogging platform where Y Combinator posted today's announcement).
Considering that Y Combinator's very first session included just eight startups, one can tell that Y Combinator has proven to be a successful venture, both for entrepreneurs and investors.
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