Y Combinator, a technology startup accelerator, cut the number of startups in its summer class to 250 from 414 in its previous winter class. According to The Information, this was in response to a downturn in the economy and in venture capital funding.
Remember, in May 2022, the startup accelerator sent an email to its portfolio companies to prepare for worst in this economic downturn.
An independent verification by Techcrunch was confirmed by Y Combinator’s head of communications, Lindsay Amos, over text message, saying “The S22 batch is significantly smaller than our most recent batches. This was intentional.” Amos said that the economic downturn and changes to the venture funding environment caused YC to reduce the number of companies funded between W22 and S22.
“We are constantly evaluating every aspect of our batches and the environment in which the companies will be operating, and as a result, the batch size has always varied from season to season and year to year,” Amos added.
This reduction in class size will surely reduce the chances of a lot of African startups who have hitherto benefitted from the program. In W22 class, Nigeria had 18 startups making it the third most represented country in the batch.
On the other hand, the reduced class size could make it easier for graduates to raise money by lowering the competition for investor attention.
5 African startups were accepted into Y Combinator’s Summer 2022 (YC S22) batch. Two of the 5 startups are from Nigeria—Pivo Technology and Chowdeck
Just this January, the technology startup accelerator announced that it has revised its standard deal upwards for accelerator companies. It is now offering to invest a total of $500,000. It will still invest $125,000 for 7% and now also invest an additional $375,000 on an uncapped safe with an Most Favored Nation” (MFN).
The Y combinator 35th Demo Day comes up on September 7th and 8th, 2022, and it will be virtual. The two day event will feature founders from 30 countries and startups in every sector — open source, ML/AI, dev tools, fintech, B2B SaaS, consumer, healthcare, hard tech, and more
