Where is the Y Combinator startup hunt in 2022?
Like the startup ecosystem itself, accelerators change over time. Techstars has expanded into a network of programs, to name just one example. Y Combinator, perhaps the most well-known startup accelerator, has also evolved. It is now offering more capital than ever to chosen companies and is determining how its program will work in a post-COVID world.
Like much of the venture capital landscape, Y Combinator has shrunk slightly this year. The current cohort of startups in the US program is around 40% thinner, with just 240 companies compared to the previous 400.
This change made us curious about the side effects of admitting a smaller number of companies into the program: what would be the effect of a smaller group on the geographic makeup of accelerator companies?
Before we dive into the data, a caveat about working remotely: According to the accelerator, more than a third (35%) of startups in its current program are remote, and even more (37% ) are what he calls "remote control compatible. Remote working and partially remote teams dilute the importance of where a company is "based".
This is not a new trend. COVID has led to the birth of a host of startups in a remote world, which means hiring over the past few years has often been spread out. It has never meant less to be based in, say, the United States, if your team is spread across multiple countries and time zones. Yet, where a company is domiciled still means something and tells us where companies base themselves to best gather talent, capital and exit opportunities.
There is only one Colombian startup in the current batch, bringing things back to pre-COVID levels.
Let's take a look at where Y Combinator's most promising tech startups come from to get a loose barometer of where the accelerator finds the most intriguing founders to back.
OverviewGiven its small size, it's no surprise that this year's Y Combinator group represents fewer countries. According to the investment group, the Summer 2022 class has startups from 34 countries, compared to 42 countries in the Winter 2022 cohort.
Notably, this decrease is just under 20%, about half of the 40% drop in the total number of startups accepted into the program, as mentioned above. It appears that the geographical diversity in terms of countries represented did not decrease linearly with the reduction in batch size.
Its diversity may not have diminished as much as some might expect, but this cohort is still more US-centric than before. According to the company, about 58% of its current cohort is based in the United States, compared to 50% in the winter 2022 cohort.
Like the startup ecosystem itself, accelerators change over time. Techstars has expanded into a network of programs, to name just one example. Y Combinator, perhaps the most well-known startup accelerator, has also evolved. It is now offering more capital than ever to chosen companies and is determining how its program will work in a post-COVID world.
Like much of the venture capital landscape, Y Combinator has shrunk slightly this year. The current cohort of startups in the US program is around 40% thinner, with just 240 companies compared to the previous 400.
This change made us curious about the side effects of admitting a smaller number of companies into the program: what would be the effect of a smaller group on the geographic makeup of accelerator companies?
Before we dive into the data, a caveat about working remotely: According to the accelerator, more than a third (35%) of startups in its current program are remote, and even more (37% ) are what he calls "remote control compatible. Remote working and partially remote teams dilute the importance of where a company is "based".
This is not a new trend. COVID has led to the birth of a host of startups in a remote world, which means hiring over the past few years has often been spread out. It has never meant less to be based in, say, the United States, if your team is spread across multiple countries and time zones. Yet, where a company is domiciled still means something and tells us where companies base themselves to best gather talent, capital and exit opportunities.
There is only one Colombian startup in the current batch, bringing things back to pre-COVID levels.
Let's take a look at where Y Combinator's most promising tech startups come from to get a loose barometer of where the accelerator finds the most intriguing founders to back.
OverviewGiven its small size, it's no surprise that this year's Y Combinator group represents fewer countries. According to the investment group, the Summer 2022 class has startups from 34 countries, compared to 42 countries in the Winter 2022 cohort.
Notably, this decrease is just under 20%, about half of the 40% drop in the total number of startups accepted into the program, as mentioned above. It appears that the geographical diversity in terms of countries represented did not decrease linearly with the reduction in batch size.
Its diversity may not have diminished as much as some might expect, but this cohort is still more US-centric than before. According to the company, about 58% of its current cohort is based in the United States, compared to 50% in the winter 2022 cohort.
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