21 Harvard Alumni in YC's Summer 2024 Batch
Exploring Harvard's Strong Representation in YC's Summer 2024 Batch
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Introduction
Founded in 2005, Y Combinator is the accelerator behind iconic tech companies like Airbnb, Stripe, DoorDash, Reddit, and more.
Today, YC runs four batches a year and has funded over 5,000 startups with a combined valuation exceeding $600B. Remarkably, 10 YC-backed startups founded by Harvard alumni—including Airbnb, Stripe, and Rippling—contribute over $164B to YC’s total valuation; Harvard-founded companies account for more than one-quarter of the total value created by all YC-backed startups. Click here to read more about the success of YC-backed, Harvard-founded startups.
Given Harvard's historic success in YC, we were excited to get our first look at the 17 Harvard-founded startups represented in the Summer 2024 batch during Demo Day. In this post, we spotlight these founders and their visions for the future.
Sector Representation
Harvard alumni in the YC Summer 2024 batch are heavily focused on B2B Software & Services, with 16 out of 17 Harvard-founded startups pursuing B2B ventures and just 1 in consumer. Within the B2B sector, AI automation leads with 4 companies, followed by HR, Manufacturing, and FinTech, each represented by 2 startups. Additionally, Dev Tools, SpaceTech, LegalTech, PropTech, ClimateTech, and InsurTech have a single company each.
School Breakdown
Harvard’s representation is evenly split between Harvard Business School and Harvard College, with 7 startups founded by alumni of each. Additionally, Harvard Law School, Harvard Kennedy School, and the School of Public Health each had an alum represented.
How does Harvard’s representation stack up against other schools? At the graduate level, Harvard Business School takes 2nd place for the number of startups represented in YC’s Summer 2024 batch. Meanwhile, at the undergraduate level, Harvard University is tied for 3rd. See chart below for full details.
Company Descriptions (Sorted Alphabetically)
Autumn Labs. Platform for monitoring and managing modern manufacturing lines
Callback. AI-native business process outsourcing
DreamRP. Lets users chat with AI characters made by content owners themselves
Elevate. Makes it easy for AI agents to buy anything on the internet
Fazeshift. AI agent for automating Accounts Receivable
Flyflow. The easiest way to find high-quality sales leads
Lumen Orbit. Building a network of megawatt-scale data centers in space
Mindely. The first AI interviewer designed for skills assessment interviews
Offstream. Vanta for carbon compliance
Olive Legal. AI to summarize client medical records for personal injury lawyers
Pinnacle. API for RCS, the new standard for SMS for app-like text messages
Poka Labs. The modern operating system for chemical manufacturing
Praxos. Allowing insurance professionals to automate their operations
ProhostAI. AI-powered Property Manager for short-term rental hosts
Promi. Optimizing ecommerce pricing with dynamic, personalized discounts
Taxo. Automated medical billing and coding
Village Labs. Helping America's businesses become employee owned
Hearing from the Founders
Next week, we’ll hear directly from several of the founders in the batch. Comment below or send over a note with content ideas or questions you have for them.
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