VC Funds Starting with Y

Y Combinator, a premier startup accelerator, has backed some of the world's most successful companies, including Airbnb, Dropbox, and Stripe. The fund's portfolio is impressive, boasting over 5,000 startups with more than 290 private companies valued over $150 million and over 90 valued at more than $1 billion​. Y Combinator's investment focus spans several industries, primarily B2B software and services (43%), financial technology (19%), consumer (13%), and healthcare (12%)​​. Geographically, YC is centered in Silicon Valley, with 59% of its companies headquartered in the Bay Area, but it also supports startups globally, including in countries like India, the UK, and Nigeria​​. YC's strategy involves investing $150,000 in a large number of startups twice a year, providing them with three months of intensive mentorship, networking, and resources. They prefer to invest in early-stage startups and often continue to support companies through follow-on funding rounds​. The typical check size is $150,000, and YC often leads the initial seed rounds. Recently, they've been very active, continuously adding new companies to their portfolio and expanding their global reach​​. Approaching YC involves applying for their biannual batches, with a focus on showing strong product-market fit and growth potential. The team is led by notable figures such as Michael Seibel, the CEO, who brings a wealth of experience in startup growth and acceleration. YC's network of alumni and mentors is a key asset, providing ongoing support and advice to new startups​.

Y Soft Ventures (YSV) is the corporate venture capital arm of Y Soft Corporation, the Brno-based Czech enterprise print and IoT management company, founded in 2014. The fund focuses on innovative B2B hardware-plus-software startups across Central and Eastern Europe, a wide geographic mandate covering the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, the Baltics, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and the Western Balkans, that are seeking global impact and market validation. Its sector focus is the Internet of Things at the intersection of hardware and software, alongside cybersecurity, big data and analytics, AR/VR and robotics for industry, retail, smart cities and smart offices. Tickets typically range from EUR 100,000 to EUR 1.5 million and are written into Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A and Series B rounds, generally as a co-investor. The current portfolio includes VRgineers in enterprise VR headsets, Sensoneo in smart waste management, Dronetag in drone telemetry and ID, NenoVision in electron microscopy, GreyCortex in network security analytics, and RoboTwin in robotics and industrial automation, the firm's most recent investment in June 2025. YSV recorded its first major exit in 2024 with the sale of long-time portfolio company Sewio Networks, a real-time location-systems specialist active in over 40 countries, to US-based HID Global. Leadership transitioned on July 1, 2025, with Lukáš Konečný taking over as Managing Partner from co-founder Miloš Sochor, who continues as a Venture Partner. By backing B2B hardware-plus-software founders across CEE, Y Soft Ventures supports companies seeking global validation in IoT, cybersecurity and robotics.

Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley (YMVSV) is the global corporate venture capital and innovation lab of Japan's Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd., established in July 2015 in Palo Alto, California. Founded by Hiroshi 'Hiro' Saijou, who served as the inaugural CEO before transitioning to Chairman and ultimately departing for a Toyota role in 2020, the unit was subsequently led by George Kellerman and is now led by CEO and Managing Director Kei Onishi. YMVSV deploys capital from three named vehicles, each capitalized at $100 million: Yamaha Motor Exploratory Fund I, Yamaha Motor Exploratory Fund II, and the newer Yamaha Motor Sustainability Fund, focused on carbon management and removal, energy transition and advanced materials, for total committed capital of approximately $300 million. Its investment focus spans early-stage startups across mobility, AgTech, including a strategy originally architected by Nolan Paul, robotics and industrial automation, HealthTech and digital health, and sustainability, and it is willing to lead. The portfolio includes 28 to 35 active companies primarily in North America, and exits have included PrecisionHawk in drone analytics, Veo Robotics and Pathway, the most recent exit in July 2025. YMVSV's most recent led investment was a $5.9M Seed round into Gestalttech co-led with Alpha Edison. The firm typically participates in Series A rounds and emphasizes cross-business-unit technology applicability for Yamaha Motor. By pairing capital from its three $100M funds with an innovation lab and Yamaha's operating reach, YMVSV backs early-stage mobility, agtech, robotics and sustainability founders.

Yang Ventures is a small seed-stage venture firm founded in 2012 by Terrence Yang and based in Los Angeles, California. Yang is a Harvard Law J.D. who was previously Vice President at Morgan Stanley, Director and Senior Counsel at Merrill Lynch, and Managing Director at a $1B-plus fund, and he has been investing and advising in crypto since 2014, having personally sourced and analyzed more than 200 token white papers, including Quantstamp, in which he holds QSP tokens. The firm's thesis centers on fintech, lawtech, privacy, and crypto and Bitcoin startups, and it explicitly limits itself to deals where the founders are long-standing friends of Terrence or where the firm believes it has a 'big unfair advantage' and can be a meaningful value-add to the team, generally as a co-investor. Tickets are intentionally small, typically $25K with a range of $10K to $100K, making Yang Ventures more of a strategic friends-and-family or solo-capitalist vehicle than a traditional institutional fund. The portfolio includes roughly 13 companies, with notable holdings in Layer1, Quantstamp, Nova, Coinbase, BITMAIN and Airship. Most recent disclosed activity was participation in the Series B of civic-engagement platform Polco in May 2023. Its geographic focus is the United States with selective Asia activity, particularly around crypto and digital assets. By writing small, highly selective checks into founders it knows well or where it holds an unfair advantage, Yang Ventures backs fintech, lawtech, privacy and crypto startups as a strategic solo-capitalist vehicle.

Yara Ventures is an independent multi-strategy venture capital firm founded in 2016 and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The firm operates as a 'smart money' investor and manages several distinct vehicles rather than a single fund: Yara Seed, an evergreen open-end fund focused on the seed stage with active investments concentrated in Spain, the United States and Israel; a food-tech and innovation fund covering early stage through Series A and B; and a fintech, insurtech, proptech and regtech fund also targeting early stage through Series A and B, generally as a co-investor. The firm's broader investment thesis covers artificial intelligence, blockchain and digital assets, media, financial technology and insurance technology, all areas where Dublin's status as a European hub for regulated financial services and tech R&D gives Yara natural deal flow. Disclosed portfolio companies include Verdocs, a US-based e-signature and document-workflow platform and Yara's most recent investment in April 2024, InnovoPro, an Israeli chickpea-protein food-tech company, and Architechtures, a Madrid-based AI-powered residential building-design platform. Yara Ventures should not be confused with Yara Growth Ventures, the Oslo-based corporate venture arm of Norwegian crop-nutrition giant Yara International; the two are unrelated organizations. Specific fund size figures and full team rosters are not publicly disclosed. By running multiple thematic vehicles across seed, food-tech and fintech and leveraging Dublin's position as a regulated-finance and tech hub, Yara Ventures backs early-stage founders in AI, blockchain, food-tech and financial technology.

Yes VC, founded in 2018 by Caterina Fake and Jyri Engeström, is a venture capital firm based in San Francisco that focuses on investing in pre-seed and seed-stage startups. The firm is known for backing category-defining companies across a diverse range of industries, including artificial intelligence, climate tech, consumer brands, and digital infrastructure. Notable investments from Yes VC's portfolio include Adept AI, Boom Supersonic, and Lovevery. Adept AI is working on developing general intelligence by enabling humans and computers to collaborate creatively, while Boom Supersonic is building a non-fossil-powered supersonic passenger plane. Lovevery creates award-winning, Montessori-inspired toys and subscription boxes for babies and toddlers. Yes VC is also actively investing in climate tech, with companies like Running Tide, which focuses on carbon sequestration by growing biomass and sinking it in the deep ocean, and Steady Energy, which is developing zero-emission heating plants powered by advanced nuclear reactors. Additionally, the firm supports innovative digital infrastructure solutions, such as OneSignal, a customer engagement platform, and Reconnect, which improves outcomes for individuals in the criminal justice system. The firm's commitment to diversity is evident, with a significant portion of its investments going into companies founded by women or people of color. This approach aligns with their mission to support transformative technologies and innovative business models that have the potential to make a substantial impact.

The Yield Lab is a venture capital firm dedicated to transforming the agri-food sector by investing in early-stage companies across North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. Their portfolio includes notable startups such as Pluton Biosciences, which specializes in biotech innovations, and GroGuru, which focuses on strategic irrigation management for farmers. With a geographic focus that spans multiple continents, The Yield Lab invests in high-impact companies with technologies in areas like digital agriculture, crop health, and sustainable farming practices. Their investment strategy typically involves funding from $100,000 to $1.5 million for early-stage ventures, providing not just capital but also access to a global network of experts and industry partners to help scale and commercialize these innovations internationally. The Yield Lab has a keen focus on sustainability and aims to support companies that can revolutionize food systems and contribute to environmental conservation. For instance, their investment in RootWave, a company using electricides for sustainable weed control, reflects their commitment to eco-friendly solutions. Key team members include Pat Pinkston and Sherri Brown in North America, and Paul Finnerty and Brian Clevinger in Europe, all of whom bring extensive experience in venture capital and agri-food industries. They maintain a collaborative approach, leveraging their combined expertise to drive growth and innovation within their portfolio companies.

Yıldız Ventures, founded in 2019, is the venture capital arm of Yıldız Holding, a Turkish conglomerate known for its expertise in the food and retail sectors. The firm’s investment strategy revolves around both Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) and Venture Capital (VC) activities, making it a key player in supporting innovation across a broad range of industries. Yıldız Ventures focuses heavily on startups in foodtech, agritech, retail tech, and consumer goods, investing in early-stage companies and incubating promising ventures that align with Yıldız Holding’s core business areas. In addition to providing capital, Yıldız Ventures offers operational support, leveraging its vast experience in management, technology, and marketing to help startups grow. The firm also actively partners with international VC funds, enhancing its global reach and portfolio diversity. Through its acceleration programs, Yıldız Ventures nurtures early-stage companies by providing pre-seed funding and guidance, fostering entrepreneurship in sectors like food innovation and digital retail solutions. Notable investments include companies like İsteGelsin, Turkey’s first online supermarket, reflecting its focus on transformative businesses within the food and retail ecosystems. Yıldız Ventures is committed to shaping the future of these industries by backing disruptive technologies and empowering entrepreneurs.

The Ying Fund, founded in 2019 and based in Los Angeles, is a global venture capital and accelerator with a focus on early-stage investments. The fund primarily invests in consumer, entertainment, health, and retail sectors, aiming to help promising startups grow into category leaders. Ying Fund provides not just capital but also strategic support, helping startups refine their business models, go-to-market strategies, and team-building efforts to achieve Series A and beyond. Ying Fund’s investment portfolio includes companies such as ZeroStorefront, Junzi Kitchen, and SnapPay, showcasing its diverse interest across technology, food, and retail. The fund typically participates in seed and Series A/B funding rounds, offering both financial backing and access to industry connections that drive transformative growth. With investments ranging from $150k to $3 million, the firm emphasizes scalable innovation and long-term partnerships. Led by experienced partners like Peter Man and Matt Sun, Ying Fund leverages its extensive network and deep domain knowledge to support startups on their path to success.

YL Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that focuses on investing in Israeli cybersecurity startups. With headquarters in Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv, YL Ventures manages over $800 million in assets, making it a prominent player in the cybersecurity investment space. The firm is dedicated to supporting startups from seed to lead, providing not just financial backing but also strategic and operational support to accelerate their growth and market penetration. The firm's portfolio includes notable companies such as Axonius, Medigate, and Twistlock, which have achieved significant milestones and exits. Axonius, for example, reached a unicorn valuation and was acquired by ICONIQ Growth, Alkeon Capital, DTCP, and Harmony Partners. Medigate, focusing on cybersecurity for medical devices, was acquired by Claroty, and Twistlock, a container security startup, was acquired by Palo Alto Networks. YL Ventures distinguishes itself through its extensive network of more than 115 Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and cybersecurity executives who provide invaluable guidance to their portfolio companies. This network helps startups achieve product-market fit, secure early customers, and develop effective go-to-market strategies. The firm's approach to value addition includes marketing support, business development, follow-on funding, HR assistance, and operational guidance. YL Ventures' in-house experts and advisors work closely with founders to navigate the complex landscape of cybersecurity, ensuring their startups are well-positioned for success.

Ymer Venture Capital Asia is a Hong Kong-based venture capital firm that partnered with early-stage Asian startups across technology, life sciences and renewable energy. The firm describes its mandate as backing high-growth Asian businesses with the potential to lead market disruption, preferring to build around outstanding founders or teams with powerful technology and market vision, and providing capital alongside strategic and operational support, generally as a co-investor. The portfolio is small and concentrated, with five publicly tracked investments: language-learning platform ChinesePod, social-commerce app Kwestr, and several others across application software, leisure facilities and educational software. Public sources show no investment activity since November 2010, the last reported deal being Kwestr, and aggregator databases do not disclose current fund size, partner roster or AUM. There is some inconsistency between sources: one summary lists the firm as founded in 2018, while the deal-history record extends only through 2010, suggesting either an earlier founding date with a long dormant period or a possible relaunch. The firm operates under the website ymerfund.com, but the site has been largely inaccessible to modern crawlers. Ymer Venture Capital Asia should be treated as a small and likely inactive Hong Kong VC with a historic portfolio rather than a currently deploying fund. During its active period it backed early-stage Asian founders in technology, life sciences and renewable energy, building a concentrated portfolio anchored by names such as ChinesePod and Kwestr while providing strategic and operational support alongside capital.

YOBE Ventures is a Hollywood, Florida-based family office and venture capital firm that has been backing extraordinary tech founders from Seed to Series A since 2015; the formal LLC, Yobe Consulting LLC, is registered in Florida and the Ventures brand was formalized around 2020. The firm is led by founder Yotis Tonnelier and pairs a direct investment activity with a separate advisory practice that helps high-potential founders raise capital with clarity, speed and conviction. YOBE invests across the United States, Europe, Israel and Latin America, is sector-agnostic within tech, and concentrates on SaaS, AI, fintech and deep-tech companies that have crossed the post-product-market-fit threshold, typically at least $1M in ARR and ready to scale globally, generally as a co-investor. Check sizes range from $50K to $500K with the ability to syndicate larger allocations alongside its international advisor network. The firm reports approximately 14 portfolio companies, with named historical co-investments including Aptiv, Aircall, Canva and Payfit, more than $84M raised alongside its advisor network, five positive exits via IPO or other liquidity events, and a self-reported 14.6x actual MOIC across live valuations and exits since inception. YOBE was named HackerNoon's Startup of the Year 2024 in Venture Capital and has stated a 2025 focus on creative early-liquidity strategies for portfolio companies. By pairing direct investment with a capital-raising advisory practice and an international syndicate network, YOBE Ventures backs post-product-market-fit SaaS, AI and fintech founders scaling globally.

Yolo Investments is a venture capital firm headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia, focusing on high-growth opportunities in iGaming, fintech, and crypto sectors. Founded by Tim Heath in 2017, Yolo manages over €600 million in assets and has made more than 100 investments across the globe. The firm invests in late-seed and Series A stages, targeting companies that are disrupting traditional industries with innovative solutions. Yolo Investments’ portfolio is diverse, spanning sectors such as blockchain, digital banking, and online gaming. Notable investments include BoomFi, a crypto-fiat payments gateway, and Busha, an African cryptocurrency exchange. The firm also has holdings in companies like Rhino Entertainment, a casino operator, and TymeBank, a digital banking group with a presence in South Africa and Southeast Asia. Their investments also extend to crypto-based solutions such as CoinMENA and Balthazar, a Web3 gaming protocol. In addition to providing capital, Yolo Investments actively engages in the strategic development of its portfolio companies, leveraging its deep industry experience in gaming and fintech to help drive growth and innovation​.

Yonjin Venture LLC is a life sciences-focused venture capital firm established in 2018 and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The firm operates as the North America and Europe investment arm of Shanghai-based Yongjin Group, founded in 1995, which positions itself as a diversified capital-markets financial-services institution. Yonjin's sister vehicle is China-based Yonghua Capital, and the two share parent-level resources and deal flow. Yonjin Venture's mandate is early- to mid-stage life sciences, specifically therapeutic drug discovery, diagnostics and medical devices, and it routinely participates as a syndicate co-investor alongside leading US biotech specialists rather than as a lead investor. The team is reported at roughly 10 people including 7 partners. Public portfolio companies include Rapafusyn Pharmaceuticals in drug discovery, its most recent investment in September 2025, CSA Medical, a Series D-II in September 2024, HistoSonics, a focused-ultrasound therapeutic platform, TECLens in ophthalmology devices, Libra Therapeutics in neurodegeneration, a Series A co-led with Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, and OncoResponse in cancer-immunotherapy antibodies, co-invested alongside MD Anderson, ARCH Venture Partners, Canaan Partners, Redmile and GreatPoint. To date the firm has roughly 17 reported investments and one IPO exit, C4 Therapeutics, which went public in October 2020. Fund size and AUM are not publicly disclosed. As the North America and Europe arm of a Chinese financial-services group, Yonjin Ventures co-invests alongside leading US biotech specialists in early- to mid-stage therapeutics, diagnostics and medical devices.

York IE is a venture capital and advisory firm, founded in 2019 and based in Manchester, New Hampshire. Co-founded by Kyle York, Joe Raczka, and Adam Coughlin, York IE focuses on early-stage B2B SaaS companies, helping them scale through a combination of capital and deep operational expertise. The firm’s unique approach goes beyond just financial investment, offering hands-on advisory services in product development, go-to-market strategy, finance, and more. Their goal is to help companies in laggard markets innovate and disrupt with strategic support that accelerates growth. York IE is known for its operator-led model, which draws on the founders' experience in building and scaling companies. They typically invest in 1 to 2 companies per month, following a rigorous selection process that ensures alignment with their market-driven investment thesis. The firm has backed over 36 companies in sectors like SaaS, fintech, and AI, including notable startups like Vetro, Bluetrace, and Modulate. With a growing team spread across offices in the U.S. and India, York IE combines strategic growth services with venture capital to create long-term value for its portfolio companies.

youngStartup Ventures is a New York-based venture community and event-platform organization rather than a traditional venture capital fund. Founded in 1999 by CEO Joe Benjamin and headquartered in Staten Island, the firm's mission has been to assist entrepreneurs in building successful enterprises by connecting them directly with the capital and corporate partners they need. youngStartup runs a roster of recurring 'Venture Summit' conferences that have become well-known capital-raising stages in the US ecosystem, most prominently the Venture Summit West in Silicon Valley, including editions in April 2024, April 2025 and June 2026, the New York Venture Summit at the Javits Center, most recently September 2025, and the New England Venture Summit. Across these summits the company has connected hundreds of emerging startups with VCs, corporate development teams, family offices, angel investors and investment bankers. Because youngStartup is structured as a connector and event operator rather than an LP-backed fund, it does not have a traditional check size, fund AUM or named portfolio companies tracked in standard VC databases; Crunchbase, Tracxn and PitchBook list it as an investor profile but record no direct equity investments. Operators in the network include Associate Michael Steinman. Founders looking to engage with youngStartup typically apply via the upcoming Venture Summit application pipeline. Rather than deploying capital directly, youngStartup Ventures operates as a long-running US venture community and conference platform that connects early-stage founders with the investors and corporate partners they need to raise capital and grow.

YourNest Venture Capital is a Gurugram-headquartered Indian VC firm founded in 2011 by Sunil K Goyal, Managing Director and Fund Manager, Sanjay Pande and Girish Shivani. The firm's distinctive 'Nurture Capital' philosophy emphasizes deep mentoring and operational involvement with founders in addition to capital, and YourNest positions itself as a sharply focused Pre-Series A specialist in technology-led, enterprise B2B and DeepTech startups, willing to lead. After briefly investing in a handful of consumer-internet companies, the firm pivoted within two years of Fund I to become an India-focused DeepTech-only investor in IoT, electronic system design, applied AI, advanced robotics, AR/VR, edge cloud, developer tools and enterprise SaaS. YourNest has raised three funds on a roughly five-year cadence, Fund I in 2012, Fund II, and most recently Fund III, 'Engineering the Future, Now,' sized at approximately $75M, with cumulative committed AUM near $53M and a portfolio mark-up valued at roughly $1.2B as of May 2025. Across all funds, YourNest has backed 58 companies, producing one unicorn, Uniphore in conversational AI, which crossed $1B in 2022 and on which YourNest earned a 7x return on its early INR 8 crore investment, and nine acquisitions, including queue-management company SmartQ, enterprise-AI startup Arya.ai, acquired by Aurionpro in April 2024, and AI startup Argoid, acquired by Amagi in December 2024. Investment pace has remained active with nine new deals in 2025. By pairing 'Nurture Capital' mentoring with a DeepTech and enterprise focus, YourNest backs Pre-Series A Indian founders.

YouWeCan Ventures is the personal venture investment vehicle of former Indian international cricketer Yuvraj Singh, established in April 2015 in Gurugram, India alongside the broader YouWeCan brand that Yuvraj first launched in 2013 as a cancer-awareness foundation. The firm is structured as a single family office rather than an LP-backed fund: Yuvraj announced an initial commitment of approximately INR 40 to 50 crore to deploy into Indian technology startups, and seed checks have historically been INR 10 to 25 lakh per company, generally as a co-investor. Day-to-day operations are co-led by long-time business advisor and Chartered Accountant Nishant Singhal, with a six-person investment team comprising CAs, technologists and management consultants. The fund invests across seed, angel and Series A stages, with sectoral interest spanning business services, consumer internet, healthtech and wellness, gaming and esports, edtech, mobility, and food and beverage. Across roughly 18 disclosed investments, named portfolio companies include Healthians in preventive diagnostics, in which YouWeCan reportedly clocked a 100x-plus partial-exit return, JetSetGo in private aviation, Moovo in mini-truck booking, EduKart in online education, EazyDiner in restaurant reservations, Wellversed in keto and wellness food, HoloSuit, a motion-capture VR suit, Cartisan and Vyomo. Yuvraj's investment philosophy is explicitly brand-and-face-led: he typically backs companies in which he can publicly champion the brand and lend his personal cricketing celebrity to drive consumer awareness. As a celebrity family office, YouWeCan Ventures backs early-stage Indian consumer and technology founders it can publicly promote.