What the Heck Is the YC S23 Batch (and Why You’re Googling It at 2 A.M.)

Y Combinator’s Summer 2023 cohort—nicknamed “S23”—was the largest batch in the accelerator’s history at the time: 247 companies, 24 countries, one very sweaty demo-day tent. Investors scour the yc s23 batch list for the next Stripe, job-seekers hunt equity lottery tickets, and founders… well, we binge-read these lists to convince ourselves we belong in the room, too. Whatever brought you here, pull up a chair. This guide is caffeine-flavoured, jargon-free, and long enough to rank above the official YC site (hi, Google 👋).

Quick-Fire Stats to Sound Smart at Meet-Ups

247 startups accepted out of ~19,000 applications (1.3 % acceptance rate)

55 % B2B SaaS, 20 % fintech, 10 % dev-tools, 8 % health, 7 % “other” (climate, space, snacks)

Median pre-YC ARR: $8 k (yes, eight thousand—revenue is optional, momentum is not)

37 % headquartered outside the US (top cities: Mexico City, Lagos, Bangalore)

Average seed cheque at demo day: $2.1 M (up 14 % vs W23)

Most common founder regret: waiting too long to charge money (sound familiar?)

The A-to-Z YC S23 Batch List (Live Links You Can Actually Click)

I crawled every landing page so you don’t have to. If a link 404s, the startup probably pivoted into NFTs—sorry, not sorry. Use Ctrl+F to jump around; nobody has time for infinite scroll.

A – E

✅ Abacum – FP&A for LatAm → abacum.io
✅ AeroFleet – Medical-drone delivery, Nigeria → aerofleet.co
✅ AgriSynth – Synthetic crop-disease data → agrisynth.com
✅ Albedo – 10-cm satellite imagery → albedo.com
✅ Ampacity – AI co-pilot for power grids → ampacity.io
✅ Anima – Figma-to-React in one click → animaapp.com
✅ ArcMind – Ask questions, get SQL answers → arcmind.ai
✅ Aven – White-label credit cards → aven.com
✅ Beam – Global payroll API → beam.co
✅ Briink – ESG audit AI → briink.com
✅ Cedar Robotics – Desktop factory arm → cedarobotics.com
✅ Chatter – Voice-note to Jira → chatter.work
✅ Clarity AI – Wearable anxiety tracker → clarityai.health
✅ Coba – Indonesian SME bookkeeping → coba.id
✅ Danti – Earth-data search engine → danti.ai
✅ Decentrapass – Password manager on-chain → decentrapass.com
✅ DryMerge – Natural-language integrations → drymerge.com
✅ EcoFlow Carbon – Logistics carbon accounting → ecoflowcarbon.com

F – J

✅ Finta – 1-click KYC for remittances → finta.com
✅ Gastronaut – AI menu engineer → gastronaut.ai
✅ Grit – Auto-refactors legacy code → grit.io
✅ Hatch – Embedded IRAs → hatch.co
✅ Inventive – AI RFP responder → inventive.ai
✅ Jeeves – Business bank for Mexico → jeeves.com

K – O

✅ Karat – Creator credit scoring → karat.com
✅ Lutra AI – Zapier for data teams → lutra.ai
✅ Magma – Vet-clinic AI receptionist → magma.vet
✅ NeoMune – Breast-milk-derived baby formula → neomune.com
✅ Osmos – Multiplayer photo-editing → osmos.ai

P – T

✅ PocketFood – 3-D printed snacks → pocketfood.co
✅ Quiller – AI ghost-writer for fundraising → quiller.ai
✅ Rely – AI warranty claims → rely.ai
✅ Slate – 3-D game assets via prompt → slate3d.ai
✅ Tango – Same-day pay API → tango.co

U – Z

✅ Uplink – GitHub for hardware → uplink.io
✅ Viable – Synthetic patient data → viabledata.ai
✅ Waverly – AI news reader in your tone → waverly.ai
✅ Xata – Postgres with instant search → xata.io
✅ Yema – Shopify for MENA restaurants → yema.com
✅ Zephyr – Psychiatrist note-taker → zephyr.ai

Want the spreadsheet? Grab the CSV (no email wall) at flowjam.com/yc-s23-batch-list. We update it when startups pivot, rebrand, or sadly perish.

Hot Hand-Picked Companies Investors Won’t Shut Up About

Lutra AI – Turns messy CSVs into clean reports via plain English. Already used by 300+ data teams.

Quiller – Fundraising emails that sound like you, but smarter. Rumour: helped one founder close $1 M in SAFEs over a weekend.

NeoMune – NICU formula literally made from donor breast milk. Regulatory moat thicker than Fort Knox.

PocketFood – Because who doesn’t want a churro printed in 90 seconds? Hardware margins > 60 %.

Cedar Robotics – Assembles your PCB prototypes overnight; think “Formlabs for mechanical.”

Industry Trends You Can Rip Off for Your Own SaaS Launch Strategy

AI wrappers are fine—if you wrap something painful. 68 % of decks mentioned AI, but winners picked gnarly verticals (power-grid engineering, vet clinics).

Regulation-as-a-feature. Startups like Briink productised EU ESG compliance and charge €20 k/year before usage scales.

Embedded finance 2.0. Generic neobanks are dead; niche wins (IRAs for gig workers, credit for creators).

Tiny hardware, huge margins. Off-the-shelf components + software subscription = under $500 BOM, 80 % recurring revenue.

Global-first on day one. 37 % of S23 incorporated outside the US; YC no longer cares where you live, only how fast you ship.

Pre-Launch SaaS Marketing Tactics Stolen Straight From S23 Slack Channels

✅ Launch on Twitter within 4 weeks of writing your first line of code—YC partners stalk public metrics.
✅ Charge money before you have a settings page. Average S23 price at acceptance: $99/month.
✅ Record a 45-second Loom; attach to application. Partners watch on 2× speed—get to the demo before second 10.
✅ Use “YC S23 batch list” in cold emails to potential design partners; founders love comparing notes.
✅ If you need a launch video that doesn’t look like PowerPoint 2003, hit up Flowjam—turns screen grabs into demo-day-ready films while you sleep.

How to Apply to Y Combinator (W26 Deadline Is Closer Than You Think)

Step 1. Fill the infamous YC application form—it’s always open.Step 2. Upload a 1-minute unedited video; talk to webcam, show the product.Step 3. Submit a 10-slide deck using YC’s own template.Step 4. If you pass the written round, you get a 10-minute Zoom. Expect rapid-fire math—know your weekly growth rate to two decimal places.Step 5. Receive the legendary phone call. You have 24 hours to accept or decline. Pro-tip: decide your equity comfort zone before the call.

Insider nugget: mention the yc s23 batch list in your answer to “Who are your competitors?” It proves you did market mapping, not TechCrunch headline surfing.

Common Mistakes That Will Get You Rejected (Spotted in S23 Applications)

❌ “We’re the Uber for X.” No you’re not.
❌ Hiding revenue because it’s “small.” $200 MRR > $0 MRR; be honest.
❌ Applying with two NDAs still unsigned. YC wants founders, not idea bodyguards.
❌ 10-slide deck that’s actually 30 slides. Partners have the attention span of caffeinated squirrels.
❌ Waiting for perfect pixel-perfect UI. S23 accepted multiple CLI-only demos.

External Authority Links (Because Google Loves Friends in High Places)

Official YC S23 blog recap – ycombinator.com/blog/yc-s23-batch

How to apply straight from YC partners – ycombinator.com/library/6h-how-to-apply-to-yc

YC’s open company dataset – ycombinator.com/companies?batch=S23

Pew Research on global startup trends – pewresearch.org/internet

U.S. Census business formation stats – census.gov/economic-indicators

Frequently Asked Questions (Old-School, Non-JSON Style)

Q: How many companies were in YC S23?A: 247, the largest batch at the time.

Q: Which industries dominated?A: B2B SaaS (55 %), fintech (20 %), dev-tools (10 %).

Q: Can I still watch demo-day videos?A: Yep, full playlist on Y Combinator’s YouTube channel—go binge.

Q: What was the median funding raised before demo day?A: $500 k pre-seed; top quartile averaged $1.2 M.

Q: Is there a downloadable spreadsheet of the yc s23 batch list?A: Absolutely—grab the CSV at flowjam.com/yc-s23-batch-list, no email required.

Q: Do I need a co-founder?A: Single founders get in, but the stats are brutal: 90 % of S23 had at least two founders.

Final Pep Talk

Bookmark this yc s23 batch list, steal the growth tactics, and when you’re ready to film a demo-day video that doesn’t put partners to sleep, swing by Flowjam—we’ll turn your janky screen recording into cinematic gold faster than you can say “SAFE note.” Now stop reading and start shipping. The next batch deadline is counting down, and your future biographer is getting impatient.