Y Combinator Holds First In-Person Interviews in New York, Focusing on Fintech and Crypto
Y Combinator will hold its first in-person interviews in New York City on May 21, focusing on recruiting fintech and cryptocurrency startups.
A YC spokesperson stated that this move aims to facilitate face-to-face communication with founders in key ecosystems, marking YC's first transition of specific industry interview processes to in-person. Selected companies will receive a standard investment of $500,000 for a 7% equity stake, with the option to receive funds in USDC stablecoin.
This winter batch already includes several crypto and fintech projects, such as AI-driven financial infrastructure Sponge Wallet, crypto deposit service Unifold, and RWA and prediction market platform Sequence Markets.
Source: Public Information
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Y Combinator has invested in over 150 crypto and fintech companies since its investment in Coinbase in 2012. This in-person interview in New York continues its "Fintech 3.0" strategy, having previously collaborated with Coinbase to support on-chain infrastructure. Earlier this year, YC opened USDC investment options to further reduce friction for crypto founders.
In terms of capital pathways, YC will inject the standard $500,000 investment directly into early-stage crypto and fintech projects, attracting talent from Wall Street, crypto funds, and regulatory ecosystems through localized interviews in New York. Paying in USDC reduces currency exchange risks for founders, creating a closed-loop support system of "accelerator investment + stablecoin settlement + ecosystem network."
Similar to YC's early leadership in the mobile internet and SaaS waves in Silicon Valley, and its increased investment in AI batches for 2024-2025, YC is currently undergoing a critical transformation from a Silicon Valley center to a hub for fintech and crypto in New York.
Essentially, this is about capital concentration: Y Combinator is concentrating top accelerator resources on the fintech and crypto sectors through its New York-specific interviews, restructuring capital from geographically dispersed early projects into a localized ecosystem in New York. Mechanically, this is achieved through high-density in-person screening and flexible USDC funding, accelerating the rapid matching of quality founders with institutional capital and promoting the migration of crypto from marginal innovation to mainstream financial infrastructure.
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Where top accelerators hold interviews, capital and talent will follow.
When USDC can be directly used for investment, crypto founders no longer need to worry about fiat currency conversion.
In-person meetings remain the most efficient way to build trust, even in the AI era.