Y Combinator partners launch their own fund to support startups

Dalton Caldwell and Paul Buchheit — long-time partners at Y Combinator — are leaving the legendary accelerator to launch a new fund focused on financing Series A startups.

The new fund, named Standard Capital, will make investments based on startup applications — from $5 to $10 million in exchange for 10% equity. The fund's size will exceed $250 million, and it is planned that annually Standard Capital will select around 20 startups, dividing them into four cohorts.

Y Combinator is investing in the new fund, maintaining its stake in projects from its former partners. Brian Berg, an engineer from Stripe who works in the CTO team, will also join the team.

Paul Buchheit is one of Google's earliest employees and the creator of Gmail. He joined Y Combinator in 2010 and has advised startups such as Instacart, Coinbase, and Twitch.

Dalton Caldwell founded the music social network Imeem, which was acquired by MySpace in 2009. He joined Y Combinator in 2011 and eventually became the managing partner for investments, overseeing projects like DoorDash, Brex, and Deel.

The creation of Standard Capital comes amid structural changes at Y Combinator. Earlier, in March, Michael Seibel, who led the accelerator from 2016 to 2024, left the company.

Founded in 2005 by Paul Graham, Y Combinator has become synonymous with a successful startup incubator, where companies like Airbnb, Stripe, Dropbox, and Coinbase were born.

Source: forbes