Y Combinator

Y Combinator is a startup accelerator based in Mountain View, California, founded in 2005. It has pioneered a new funding model for early-stage startups by investing a modest amount of capital, typically around $150,000, in a large number of companies twice a year. Over a three-month program, Y Combinator collaborates closely with these startups to prepare them for investor pitches and enhance their business strategies. Each funding cycle concludes with Demo Day, where startups present to an exclusive audience of investors. Y Combinator focuses on various sectors, including business software, education, healthcare, and financial technology, among others. In addition to initial funding, it offers ongoing support through its extensive alumni network. Since its inception, Y Combinator has funded over 630 startups, contributing significantly to the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Silicon Valley and beyond.

Gustaf Alstromer

Group Partner

Matt Bogrand

Associate, YC Continuity Fund

Timothy Brady

Partner

Craig R. Cannon

Director of Marketing

Adora Cheung

Partner

Nic Dardenne

Principal

Aaron Epstein

Group Partner

Brad Flora

Group Partner

Jared Friedman

Managing Director, Software and Group Partner

Aaron Harris

Partner

Carolynn Levy

Partner

Bradford (Brad) Lightcap

Associate, YC Continuity

Kat Manalac

Managing Partner

Eric Migicovsky

Partner

Kirsty Nathoo

Partner

Verena Prescher

Director of Finance

Geoff Ralston

president

Ali Rowghani

Managing Partner

Arnav Sahu

Principal

Michael Seibel

Managing Director

Harj Taggar

Partner

Past deals in Video Streaming

Goodkind

Pre Seed Round in 2021
Goodkind specializes in video messaging solutions for business-to-consumer revenue teams, focusing on creating authentic connections between brands and their customers. The company offers a marketing platform that utilizes artificial intelligence to deliver personalized video content, enhancing product displays and value demonstrations. This approach aims to engage audiences effectively and foster meaningful interactions throughout the customer journey, ultimately enabling clients to enhance their marketing efforts and drive consumer intent.

Kalam Labs

Pre Seed Round in 2021
Kalam Labs is a live game streaming platform at the intersection of K-12 learning and multiplayer gaming.

Tavus

Pre Seed Round in 2021
Tavus is an AI video cloning platform that specializes in creating personalized videos for sales outreach. The platform utilizes advanced artificial intelligence technology to generate realistic videos that mimic the gestures and voices of customers. This allows sales teams to produce hundreds of unique videos quickly, enhancing their outreach efforts. By enabling clients to record a single video and automatically generate personalized versions with one click, Tavus streamlines the video creation process, making it more efficient and effective for businesses looking to engage their audience.

Lalabox

Seed Round in 2021
Lalabox is a mobile application that offers live-streaming and shopping services. It offers an online platform that allows users to watch, stream, and share videos, while buying and selling various products. Lalabox was founded in 2020 by Kirill Avery and Yurii Yatsenko.

Debrief

Pre Seed Round in 2021
Debrief helps teams communicate with recorded video instead of Zoom calls or Emails. A video of a product demo, bug report, or marketing campaign communicates more than an email and doesn’t require synchronizing schedules.

Kiwify

Pre Seed Round in 2021
Kiwify enables anyone to create and sell their online course as well as provide payment processing, video streaming, and student management.

Camelan

Seed Round in 2021
Camelan buy and sell everything related to pets using video!

Here

Seed Round in 2020
Here is a web-based video communication platform that allows teams and friends to connect in virtual spaces. The platform enables users to engage in video chats, collaborate through writing and drawing, and share images and GIFs, all within a flexible and interactive environment. By facilitating real-time communication and collaboration, Here aims to create a sense of closeness among individuals, regardless of their physical distance. Users can personalize their virtual rooms and move around within them, enhancing the experience of hanging out online. This approach fosters community and teamwork in a digital setting.

Rume

Seed Round in 2020
Rume is an online video platform designed to facilitate multiple conversations and gaming simultaneously. The platform enables users to engage in private discussions while remaining visible to the group, enhancing communication and social interaction. It also includes features such as a stage for announcements, allowing for organized communication within groups. By combining video conferencing with gaming elements, Rume aims to improve user engagement and create a more dynamic social experience.

Tella

Seed Round in 2020
Tella HQ Inc. is a company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, that operates a collaborative online video editing platform focused on screen and camera recordings. Founded in 2020, Tella provides tools for remote teams to record, edit, and share video presentations directly from their web browsers. The platform is designed to facilitate the creation of engaging content, including product demos, video blogs, and newsletters, allowing users to produce informative recordings that captivate their audience.

Allscreen

Seed Round in 2020
Allscreen distributes branded video content to places like Twitter, CNN, Fox, and Facebook to help build an audience for advertisers and publishers.

SuperPortal

Seed Round in 2020
SuperPortal is building a category-smashing video camera for streamers and professionals.

Slingshow

Seed Round in 2020
Slingshow provides organizations with a no-download screen recording to resolve customer issues. It sends a link to request a video from customers and async voice and screen recording inside the browser. It also reduces customer drop off, time to resolution, and increase CSAT. It works everywhere. After a video is recorded, it's stored at the same link, making workflow easy.

Mux

Series B in 2019
Mux is a company focused on enhancing online video infrastructure through advanced performance monitoring and analytics. Initially, it developed Mux Data, a leading tool for performance analytics that is widely used by developers at prominent organizations such as Vimeo, Robinhood, and PBS. Following this, Mux introduced Mux Video, a straightforward API designed for video hosting, encoding, and streaming. This service enables seamless playback of video files and live streams across various devices, incorporating features such as automatic thumbnails and data-driven encoding. Mux emphasizes critical performance metrics relevant to viewer experience, including rebuffering, startup time, and video quality. Its user-friendly dashboard provides insights that help users identify issues and implement improvements, supported by features like A/B testing and detailed analytics for each video view.

Portal

Seed Round in 2019
Portal is an innovative digital video sharing platform that changes how people earn money from their content. Portal has no secret algorithms that tracks every move instead, viewers can instantly send creators $0.10-$100 to show their appreciation.

Closer Sports

Pre Seed Round in 2019
Closer Sports is creating a live-streaming platform for athletes to connect with fans. The co-founders want their product to fill in the shortcomings of ESPN and existing social media services. Unlike Instagram, the startup lets athletes charge for access to their live-streams. The company is kicking things off with UFC fighters and had 500 paid subscribers after launching recently.

Arrow

Pre Seed Round in 2018
Arrow is a platform for augmented reality video sharing.

Bitmovin

Series B in 2018
Bitmovin Inc specializes in online streaming solutions and server encoding systems, offering a range of products designed to enhance video delivery and user experience. The company's key offerings include a cloud-based transcoding platform known as bitcodin, which supports adaptive streaming for MPEG-DASH and Apple HLS, as well as BITDASH, a suite of optimized clients for various devices. Additionally, Bitmovin provides an Encoding API for real-time content encoding, a Player for delivering video to streaming devices, and analytics tools that help increase viewer engagement through actionable insights. Founded in 2012 and based in San Francisco, California, with an additional office in Klagenfurt, Austria, Bitmovin emerged from the Alpen-Adria-University Klagenfurt and continues to engage in research and standardization efforts in the multimedia sector. The company maintains a strategic partnership with Intertrust Technologies Corporation and has attracted investment from notable firms such as Atomico and YCombinator.

Peer5

Seed Round in 2017
Peer5, Inc. operates a peer-to-peer content delivery network worldwide. It uses WebRTC to create a peer-to-peer mesh network that helps users load video content from each other. The company enables limitless video delivery by unifying the existing server infrastructure with an elastic computing layer. It also offers optimal content delivery solution for broadcasters. Peer5, Inc. was founded in 2011 and is based in Palo Alto, California with a location in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Bitmovin

Series A in 2016
Bitmovin Inc specializes in online streaming solutions and server encoding systems, offering a range of products designed to enhance video delivery and user experience. The company's key offerings include a cloud-based transcoding platform known as bitcodin, which supports adaptive streaming for MPEG-DASH and Apple HLS, as well as BITDASH, a suite of optimized clients for various devices. Additionally, Bitmovin provides an Encoding API for real-time content encoding, a Player for delivering video to streaming devices, and analytics tools that help increase viewer engagement through actionable insights. Founded in 2012 and based in San Francisco, California, with an additional office in Klagenfurt, Austria, Bitmovin emerged from the Alpen-Adria-University Klagenfurt and continues to engage in research and standardization efforts in the multimedia sector. The company maintains a strategic partnership with Intertrust Technologies Corporation and has attracted investment from notable firms such as Atomico and YCombinator.

Mux

Seed Round in 2016
Mux is a company focused on enhancing online video infrastructure through advanced performance monitoring and analytics. Initially, it developed Mux Data, a leading tool for performance analytics that is widely used by developers at prominent organizations such as Vimeo, Robinhood, and PBS. Following this, Mux introduced Mux Video, a straightforward API designed for video hosting, encoding, and streaming. This service enables seamless playback of video files and live streams across various devices, incorporating features such as automatic thumbnails and data-driven encoding. Mux emphasizes critical performance metrics relevant to viewer experience, including rebuffering, startup time, and video quality. Its user-friendly dashboard provides insights that help users identify issues and implement improvements, supported by features like A/B testing and detailed analytics for each video view.

Looklive

Venture Round in 2016
LookLive BV provides an application for online shopping. The company offers LookLive, an application that allows users to view their favorite celebrities/shows/characters/actors and find out what they are wearing; and locate and shop those products. It also serves content producers, content distributors, OTT and cable operators, brands, and online retailers. The company was founded in 2013 and is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Vidcode

Seed Round in 2016
Vidcode is an award-winning software that teaches students computer programming through their favorite hobby: video-making. Project-oriented lessons allow students to create memes, video filters, interactive games, virtual reality and beyond with real programming languages. Vidcode offers full semester coding courses that prepare students for AP CS. Voted Best Learning Site 2015 by Common Sense Media

Daily

Convertible Note in 2016
Pluot is the easiest way to video conference. A complete hardware + software solution for video conferencing and screen sharing. Dedicated hardware that easily connects to your TV. Free software so anyone can join your meetings.

Mux

Seed Round in 2016
Mux is a company focused on enhancing online video infrastructure through advanced performance monitoring and analytics. Initially, it developed Mux Data, a leading tool for performance analytics that is widely used by developers at prominent organizations such as Vimeo, Robinhood, and PBS. Following this, Mux introduced Mux Video, a straightforward API designed for video hosting, encoding, and streaming. This service enables seamless playback of video files and live streams across various devices, incorporating features such as automatic thumbnails and data-driven encoding. Mux emphasizes critical performance metrics relevant to viewer experience, including rebuffering, startup time, and video quality. Its user-friendly dashboard provides insights that help users identify issues and implement improvements, supported by features like A/B testing and detailed analytics for each video view.

Streamup

Seed Round in 2016
Streamup, Inc. operates a live video streaming platform. Its platform enables to browse various television channels; notifies when favorite channels go live; allows chatting/interacting together with broadcasters and viewers; and facilitates to share on Facebook, Twitter, and more. The company was incorporated in 2011 and is based in Miami, Florida.

Bitmovin

Seed Round in 2015
Bitmovin Inc specializes in online streaming solutions and server encoding systems, offering a range of products designed to enhance video delivery and user experience. The company's key offerings include a cloud-based transcoding platform known as bitcodin, which supports adaptive streaming for MPEG-DASH and Apple HLS, as well as BITDASH, a suite of optimized clients for various devices. Additionally, Bitmovin provides an Encoding API for real-time content encoding, a Player for delivering video to streaming devices, and analytics tools that help increase viewer engagement through actionable insights. Founded in 2012 and based in San Francisco, California, with an additional office in Klagenfurt, Austria, Bitmovin emerged from the Alpen-Adria-University Klagenfurt and continues to engage in research and standardization efforts in the multimedia sector. The company maintains a strategic partnership with Intertrust Technologies Corporation and has attracted investment from notable firms such as Atomico and YCombinator.

Afrostream

Seed Round in 2015
Afrostream Inc is a video-on-demand service that specializes in African and African-American content, offering subscribers unlimited access to a diverse catalog of movies and TV series. Founded in 2014 and based in Ivry-sur-Seine, France, Afrostream addresses the significant demand for black entertainment globally, particularly in Africa, where broadband access is rapidly expanding. The platform provides a range of offerings, including feature films, independent films, TV series, and stand-up comedies, catering to millions of fans who appreciate black culture. By delivering content across multiple devices such as PCs, smartphones, and tablets, Afrostream aims to bridge the gap in available entertainment for the African diaspora and beyond.

breakout room

Seed Round in 2015
Start broadcasting in one click. Screen sharing and video streaming for presenters. Chat and Q&A for attendees.

Videopixie

Venture Round in 2014
Videopixie is a marketplace for video production that allows users to have great video on the website, such as promotional videos and etc. Videopixie is a marketplace where you can hire the world’s best video professionals at a range of price points, to fit any budget. Retailers use Videopixie to make weekly product videos. Game companies use Videopixie to make trailers, using in-game footage, to air on national TV. Newly-weds use Videopixie to edit their five hours of ‘big-day’ footage into a five minute keepsake for life.

Streem

Seed Round in 2014
Streem provides unlimited cloud storage solutions designed for seamless media storage, streaming, and sharing. By utilizing its platform, users can effectively offload files from their devices, freeing up local storage while maintaining instant access to their content from anywhere at any time. Streem's innovative approach ensures that it occupies no space on users' computers or mobile devices, allowing for smooth and lag-free access to files across various devices and bandwidths. The service converts media on-the-fly, enhancing user experience and accessibility.

Vidpresso

Seed Round in 2014
Vidpresso is the simplest way to use social media in live productions. Their long-term goal is to make it simple for anyone to create broadcast quality media without spending millions on broadcast quality hardware.

MixerBox

Seed Round in 2014
MixerBox Inc, founded in 2018 and based in Palo Alto, California, has developed a mobile application that allows users to play music and videos seamlessly from various services. The app functions as a compliant third-party API client, enabling users to access and enjoy content from platforms like YouTube and MP3s in one unified interface. With its focus on providing an uninterrupted music and video experience, MixerBox aims to enhance the way users discover and enjoy digital media.

Awesometalk

Seed Round in 2014
Free video calling without the hassle.

MixerBox

Seed Round in 2014
MixerBox Inc, founded in 2018 and based in Palo Alto, California, has developed a mobile application that allows users to play music and videos seamlessly from various services. The app functions as a compliant third-party API client, enabling users to access and enjoy content from platforms like YouTube and MP3s in one unified interface. With its focus on providing an uninterrupted music and video experience, MixerBox aims to enhance the way users discover and enjoy digital media.

Watchsend

Seed Round in 2013
WatchSend is a technology company based in Mountain View, California, that provides a software library designed for mobile application developers. Its solutions enable the automatic recording of user interactions within apps, including every screen viewed, button pressed, and action taken. Additionally, WatchSend captures video footage of the app whenever it crashes, helping developers gain insights into user behavior and app performance. This functionality allows developers to better understand how their applications are utilized, ultimately improving user experience and app reliability.

Reelsurfer

Seed Round in 2012
Reelsurfer is a web-based community that allows users to clip and share videos from various websites. By entering a video URL or using a bookmarklet, users can combine clips into organized collections known as reels, which can then be shared with friends. The platform caters to diverse uses, such as friends exchanging memorable movie lines on social media, brides sharing wedding moments with distant family, and colleagues discussing notable quotes from TED talks. Reelsurfer offers a wide range of video categories, including animals, education, entertainment, music, news, science and technology, and sports. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, Reelsurfer aims to create a valuable content network through personal libraries of short, relevant videos that users can save, watch, and share.

Framebase

Seed Round in 2012
Framebase is programmatic video. Writing applications which use video in a meaningful way is extremely difficult. And then there's the maintenance. Framebase makes video a first-class object. Instead of hiring a team to deal with transcoding configurations, device compatibility bugs, or CDN contracts, Framebase lets you add two lines of code to start treating videos as class instances. Framebase is a pivot of TapIn.tv, which is a Y Combinator S 2012 company.

Streem

Pre Seed Round in 2012
Streem provides unlimited cloud storage solutions designed for seamless media storage, streaming, and sharing. By utilizing its platform, users can effectively offload files from their devices, freeing up local storage while maintaining instant access to their content from anywhere at any time. Streem's innovative approach ensures that it occupies no space on users' computers or mobile devices, allowing for smooth and lag-free access to files across various devices and bandwidths. The service converts media on-the-fly, enhancing user experience and accessibility.

TapIn.tv

Seed Round in 2012
TapIn is the easiest way to go from seeing to sharing. TapIn.tv is a mobile video app. It’s pretty simple. When you see something interesting, take out the TapIn.tv app to get video of it within seconds. It’s easy. Just Tap the record button. You're now streaming live and anyone on TapIn.tv can see what you’re seeing.

Dubjoy

Seed Round in 2012
Dubjoy makes it easy for anyone to translate and voice-over any video

Socialcam

Angel Round in 2012
Socialcam is a mobile video application available for both iPhone and Android devices. It enables users to capture, edit, and share high-quality videos, making it a convenient platform for documenting and sharing life's moments with friends and family. The app emphasizes ease of use, allowing users to quickly create and view videos online. Socialcam aims to enhance social interactions by providing a fun and engaging way to communicate through video content.

Luma.io

Seed Round in 2012
Luma.io, previously known as Midnox, specializes in a mobile camera application that enables users to capture and share high-definition videos. The platform features advanced motion retargeting algorithms that enhance video stability and allows users to apply real-time filters and zoom effects during and after recording. This functionality ensures that users can achieve high-quality video content that meets their creative needs. Additionally, Luma.io offers a social aspect, allowing users to follow friends, view their videos, and engage through likes and comments, fostering a community around video sharing.

Screenleap

Seed Round in 2012
Screenleap is a screen sharing service that enables users to share their screens and view them from any web-enabled device without the need for software installation. The company aims to simplify screen sharing, similar to how Dropbox transformed file sharing, by providing an effortless experience that works across all devices. Additionally, Screenleap offers an API that allows developers to integrate screen sharing functionality into their applications. This service has been incorporated into various products and services, including audio-conferencing tools, e-learning platforms, sales applications, and customer support solutions.

Vimessa

Seed Round in 2011
Vimessa is an iOS mobile application that offers video sharing services between its users. It is a Y Combinator-funded startup that launches a video messaging platform for mobile. It lets its users record videos of any length, save them, and send them to friends and family. Vimessa is a U.S.-based company that was founded in 2011 by Peter Clark and Cesar Alaniz.

Videopixie

Seed Round in 2011
Videopixie is a marketplace for video production that allows users to have great video on the website, such as promotional videos and etc. Videopixie is a marketplace where you can hire the world’s best video professionals at a range of price points, to fit any budget. Retailers use Videopixie to make weekly product videos. Game companies use Videopixie to make trailers, using in-game footage, to air on national TV. Newly-weds use Videopixie to edit their five hours of ‘big-day’ footage into a five minute keepsake for life.

Moki.tv

Seed Round in 2011
Moki.TV is a directory of all paid and free content included on Amazon's streaming service, Netlfix, Hulu, iTunes, and others.

Teevox

Seed Round in 2010
Teevox is the company behind teevoxRemote, an app that allows an iPhone/iPad Touch to be used as a remote control for Hulu and Netflix. The app allows one-touch show selection, synchronized shared viewing with a friend, and play/pause/volume control.

NOWBOX

Angel Round in 2010
Nowmov is an endless stream of videos recommended to users based on their interests, friends and what's trending around the world.

Nowmov

Seed Round in 2010
Nowmov solving the video discovery problem.

Zencoder

Seed Round in 2010
Zencoder is web-based [video encoding software as a service](http://zencoder.com), designed to quickly convert any video into web and mobile compatible formats. It is for web sites and applications that accept uploaded videos and need to encode them to standard formats.

NOWBOX

Seed Round in 2010
Nowmov is an endless stream of videos recommended to users based on their interests, friends and what's trending around the world.

Meetingmix.com

Seed Round in 2009
Meetingmix.com is a Video Conferencing company.

Fliggo

Seed Round in 2009
Fliggo is a provider of a video-sharing platform that enables users to create personalized video-uploading sites for sharing content privately or publicly. The platform hosts and streams videos while offering site owners a range of management tools to customize their sites and monitor activity. Fliggo's basic service is free, but it also offers commercial features for a fee, such as the ability to serve ads and control domain settings. This flexibility allows users to create anything from a personal video-sharing space to a more commercial platform, similar to YouTube, with various privacy and moderation options available.

Reble

Seed Round in 2007
Reble offers a software download, only for windows, that allows users to stream music from your friends who also have installed Reble. It launched into public beta on Feb. 5th, 2008, and is a [Y Combinator](http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/y-combinator)-funded company.

Justin.TV

Seed Round in 2007
Founded in October 2006, Justin.tv is an online community that enables users to create, share, and broadcast live videos. The platform allows individuals to stream events, classes, and gatherings to audiences in over 250 countries, facilitating real-time communication among viewers. With a robust infrastructure, Justin.tv supports over 428,000 channels and attracts more than 41 million unique visitors each month, with users watching over 300 million videos monthly. The platform is engineered to handle significant traffic by dynamically adjusting to demand, ensuring seamless streaming experiences. Headquartered in San Francisco, Justin.tv was developed by a team of graduates from MIT and Yale, and it is backed by notable investors such as Y Combinator and Draper Associates.

Twitch

Seed Round in 2007
Twitch is a leading social video platform dedicated to gamers, with over 100 million users engaging monthly to broadcast, watch, and discuss video games. It serves as a crucial hub for the video game ecosystem, connecting game developers, publishers, media outlets, esports events, and user-generated content. By facilitating both live and on-demand video distribution, Twitch has established itself as a central player in the gaming community and entertainment industry. Its popularity is underscored by recognition as one of the largest websites in terms of peak internet traffic, solidifying its role as the epicenter of social video for gamers.

SlapVid

Seed Round in 2007
SlapVid was a video site built on peer-to-peer technology that allows you to browse, search and watch video pulled from top video sites. When you find something you like you can "Slap It", which adds it to your own video channel called a SlapStrip. SlapStrips can be shared with friends and added to blogs, websites and social networks like MySpace and Facebook. SlapVid was reinvented as Cloudant at Y Combinator.