It's a great headline for TC, but looking at the numbers from a slightly different perspective it wouldn't be hard to make a negative case either. Airbnb+Dropbox probably account for at least $8 billion, perhaps more. Figure that another 10 companies probably have Heroku-sized valuations and you're close to $11 billion. Now you're down to $2.7 billion spread among 500 or so companies. In any case, YC is in great shape, but don't be surprised if you see headlines equating YC founders to share croppers if YC is ever perceived to stumble.
Y Combinator Startups Now Have A Combined Valuation Of $13.7 Billion
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Re: Y Combinator Startups Now Have A Combined Valuation Of $13.7 Billion
#22These statistics are very meaningful because of YC's transparency. The math is simple: YC has invested in 511 companies, this calculation uses an investment of $18,000 (the max YC investment) per company, equaling $9,198,000 total YC investment. YC investment results in an average of 6% ownership, 6% of $13.7B is $822,000,000. That ROI is phenomenal. I personally believe YC is in a more enviable than Sequoia. Further…
"YC investment results in an average of 6% ownership, 6% of $13.7B is $822,000,000." - this statement is not actually correct.
YC ownership averages 6% at the time when YC enters but that doesn't mean that YC gets 6% of $13.7B. Companies contributing most of these $13.7B have probably gone through additional financing rounds diluting YC's stake. But even if YC is diluted 10x, it's still remarkable ROI.
Re: Y Combinator Startups Now Have A Combined Valuation Of $13.7 Billion
#23Holy negativity. Why is the overall sentiment of the comment pool so cranky and skeptical?
1) YC startups have a combined valuation of $13.7B. Fact - groups of investors have valued YC startups individually, and in aggregate the current known valuation of the collective is $13.7B.
Does that number mean that much by itself? Perhaps not. Let's see what else we know.
2) That valuation has grown by $2B since June. Also fact. And pretty incredible, that's a 17% growth on valuation in 4-5 months.
Without making any comments on whether or not YC's success rate is higher/lower than average and whether or not YC is a benefit to the entrepreneurs it invests in (there's no data presented here to make that assessment, but I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to do), what YC has done in a short amount of time in helping build a tremendous amount of value in its companies is noteworthy - and that's what I take away from this article.
Re: Y Combinator Startups Now Have A Combined Valuation Of $13.7 Billion
#24These statistics are very meaningful because of YC's transparency. The math is simple: YC has invested in 511 companies, this calculation uses an investment of $18,000 (the max YC investment) per company, equaling $9,198,000 total YC investment. YC investment results in an average of 6% ownership, 6% of $13.7B is $822,000,000. That ROI is phenomenal. I personally believe YC is in a more enviable than Sequoia. Further…
As I am writing this your comment is the top comment. The comment below it reads: > And Sequoia backed startups now have a combined valuation of almost a trillion. These statistics are a bit meaningless. I'll wager that the median YC company has a negative opportunity cost for the founders. When reading your comment first I agreed and thought, Wow! YC is killing it. Then I read the next comment and thought, Hmm, perh…
If I own one share of Apple, Exxon, and Wal-Mart, then benmanns-backed companies have a valuation of 481.19B+387.73B+246.74B = 1.12 trillion dollars, but my personal stake is less than one thousand dollars.
YC has a diluted 6% of 13.7B. I would have an estimated 8.9286 x 10^-8% of 1.12 trillion.
Re: Y Combinator Startups Now Have A Combined Valuation Of $13.7 Billion
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
As I am writing this your comment is the top comment. The comment below it reads: > And Sequoia backed startups now have a combined valuation of almost a trillion. These statistics are a bit meaningless. I'll wager that the median YC company has a negative opportunity cost for the founders. When reading your comment first I agreed and thought, Wow! YC is killing it. Then I read the next comment and thought, Hmm, perh…
If I own one share of Apple, Exxon, and Wal-Mart, then benmanns-backed companies have a valuation of 481.19B+387.73B+246.74B = 1.12 trillion dollars, but my personal stake is less than one thousand dollars. YC has a diluted 6% of 13.7B. I would have an estimated 8.9286 x 10^-8% of 1.12 trillion.
You are correct about the diluted 6%. That was not so much an oversight, I was outright wrong I did not believe it was subject to dilution, but I stand corrected.
Re: Y Combinator Startups Now Have A Combined Valuation Of $13.7 Billion
#26These statistics are very meaningful because of YC's transparency. The math is simple: YC has invested in 511 companies, this calculation uses an investment of $18,000 (the max YC investment) per company, equaling $9,198,000 total YC investment. YC investment results in an average of 6% ownership, 6% of $13.7B is $822,000,000. That ROI is phenomenal. I personally believe YC is in a more enviable than Sequoia. Further…
"YC investment results in an average of 6% ownership, 6% of $13.7B is $822,000,000." - this statement is not actually correct. YC ownership averages 6% at the time when YC enters but that doesn't mean that YC gets 6% of $13.7B. Companies contributing most of these $13.7B have probably gone through additional financing rounds diluting YC's stake. But even if YC is diluted 10x, it's still remarkable ROI.
Confirmed YC ownership is subject to dilution. I appreciate your tact in pointing out my error.