“We’ve always been excited about funding Indian founders. One of my best companies from the last batch is two guys from India who moved to San Francisco. What we’re seeing now is that a lot of Indians are choosing to start global businesses with a hybrid presence across India and the US,” Gupta said.
At the same time, Indian startups are increasingly choosing to remain based out of India rather than relocating fully to the US or some other geography. This, he said, is being shaped by changing regulations and stronger opportunities in India’s public markets.
“There’s going to be quite a few companies that can be economically valuable for India’s development, while also accessing global capital by going public on Wall Street. But for companies that want to be based in India, sell to the Indian market, and IPO in India, we’re happy to support them too,” Gupta added.
He said YC now has a better insight into what growth looks like, especially after working closely with Indian startups over the years. “We’ve seen the experience of our Indian firms, so we know how to prepare others for what’s ahead,” he said.
Gupta also spoke about India’s position in the global AI race, and noted that it has the key ingredients to compete. “India has great talent and should have lots of capital… it’s a really big economy,” he said, and added that companies like Sarvam AI are starting to reflect this potential, although more work is still needed.
What is Startup School?
To deepen its India push, YC is now bringing its Startup School to the country. Launched in 2017, Startup School is an online programme designed to support early-stage founders. It offers personalised guidance along with structured lessons to help startups grow.
Applications are open for YC’s first Startup School event in India, set to take place in Bengaluru on April 18. The event is free to attend, though entry is subject to selection.
Gupta will be joined by YC partners Jared Friedman and Jon Xu. Several founders from YC-backed Indian startups will also be speaking at the event. These include Harshil Mathur of Razorpay, Vidit Aatrey of Meesho, Aadit Palicha of Zepto, Lalit Keshre of Groww, and Mukund Jha.
The event has space for around 2,000 attendees, but Gupta said they have received over 25,000 applications already. “We’re really excited for what that means, and for the amount of builder energy and excitement around startups in India.”
Additionally, YC will be visiting IIT Delhi this week and hold a programme there aimed at engaging young entrepreneurs.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco edition of Startup School will feature prominent speakers including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta’s chief AI officer Alexandr Wang, and Google DeepMind chief scientist Jeff Dean.
Who is the event for?
The India event is designed for engineers, developers, and aspiring entrepreneurs. It is open to computer science students, working professionals, and even senior secondary students who have a strong interest in technology and innovation.
YC has clarified that participants do not need to be building a startup already in order to attend.
Capital distribution
During the interview, Gupta highlighted an imbalance in how funding is currently distributed across the startup ecosystem.
“There’s too much capital going to a small number of companies at the very top, and not nearly enough going to seed stage firms where there’s an insane number of possibilities,” he told ET.
“We used to fund people a decade out of college. Increasingly, we’re funding people right out of college, or even dropouts. You’re more likely to be exposed to the newest tools by hacking on side projects at university than at work. Wherever the great raw technical talent is, that’s where we’ll find the great startup ideas. India has that in abundance,” he added.
YC’s vigorous outreach renewed focus on India comes after the number of Indian startups selected by it fell to just four in 2024 from 66 in 2021, a significant decline for what had been one of its most active international markets.