Seven former and current University of Waterloo students received two million dollars in funding from one of the world's biggest and most prestigious startup accelerators, the Y Combinator (YC). T
Based in Silicon Valley, the YC hosts an annual program split into two cohorts that participate in the winter and spring. Successful applicants receive $500,000 in funding and other resources such as networking sessions, alumni talks and mentorship, particularly on finance, public relations, or product design. One of the most prominent events is Demo Day, where the cohort presents their startups to an audience of 1,500 investors and media figures, across two full days. Some notable YC alumni include Airbnb, DoorDash, Dropbox, Instacart, Reddit, and Twitch.
Four startups from the winter 2024 cohort have ties to the University of Waterloo: DraftAid and Attunement were founded by Engineering alumni while Datacurve and Blacksmith were founded by former and current students at the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science.
Read the full story from Waterloo News to learn more.