US accelerator Y Combinator selects a record number of India startups for summer batch

Silicon Valley-headquartered accelerator Y Combinator has selected a record number of 15 startups from India for its 2019 summer batch.

“We have funded 15 companies from India in our next batch, summer 2019 — which is a record number of companies,” a Y Combinator spokesperson said in an email response to TechCircle.

The accelerator runs two batches every year -- January through March and June through August -- and usually selects about four-five companies from India for each of its two batches.

The increased representation of Indian startups in the upcoming batch could largely be attributed to Y Combinator’s decision to conduct interviews in India for the first time. The move was prompted by a large volume of applications from the country.

“There was a 50% increase in applications from India compared to our last batch. This was partly due to us announcing that interviews would take place in Bengaluru. This was also due to YC Startup School, a free, 10-week online course on how to start a startup. Many startups from India participated, which subsequently applied for Y Combinator,” the spokesperson said.

The company did not disclose the names of the startups selected for the batch.

Launched in March 2005, Y Combinator invests $150,000 in selected startups in return for a seven per cent stake. Startups can apply from anywhere around the world but selected players have to take up residence in the San Francisco Bay Area during the three-month programme.

The accelerator has spawned a number of startups globally including home-renting company Airbnb Inc., social media network Reddit Inc., file sharing and storage company Dropbox Inc., question-and-answer website Quora, and payments startup Stripe.

Y Combinator has funded more than 40 companies from India including ClearTax, Meesho and Razorpay.

It had last month selected four Indian companies for its 2019 winter batch. The selected companies were:  

Cityfurnish: A furniture, furnishings and consumer appliances rental startup, it works on a full-stack model, that is, it controls everything: Sourcing of raw materials, designing, manufacturing and logistics.

Skill-Lync: This Chennai-based company founded in 2015 provides online courses for mechanical engineering students in India, helping them develop employable skills to get hired.

Mudrex Inc.: Founded in 2018 by, Mudrex helps crypto traders automate their trading without needing to write a single line of code. Traders can write their trading logic using a flowchart tool, test their trading rules on historical or live data, and put their strategies live on multiple exchanges to trade automatically. 

Trexo Robotics Inc.: An Ontario-based company founded in 2016 by two Indians, Trexo builds wearable robots that help children with cerebral palsy walk, in many cases for the first time in their lives. Trexo’s mission is to enable mobility for everyone, starting with children.