Sixty-one known companies funded by Y Combinator have exited through acquisition. That’s 11% of the 564 total companies. In my previous post, I stated the average lifespan of startups that get acquired is typically between 18 months to 24 months. Below is a complete list of the name and age of all 61 YC companies from funding through acquisition.
Organizing this data required standardizing the calculations. Months are thirty days. Acquisition dates are always on the last calendar day of the month. Y Combinator funding dates are always on the first day of the month, with January 1 for winter sessions and June 1 for summer sessions. Companies therefore gain as much as two months to their lifespan between the beginning-of-the-month funding date and end-of-the-month acquisition date.
Some of these companies had an existence prior to funding. However, researching the specific start date for each of these companies would have been impractical. For consistency’s sake, the date of funding by Y Combinator is used as the company start date.
There is no obvious correlation between lifespan of the company and value of the exit. Heroku, from YC W08, was 37 months old with an exit value of approximately $250 million. Xobni (YC S06) had the longest lifespan of 87 months and an exit value somewhere between $40 million and $60 million. Also, exit amounts are only available for half of the 61 companies. More thoroughly analyzing this same data for a correlation between lifespan and exit amount might result in another blog post at some point in the future.
My original comment was proven accurate that “eighteen months to two years has traditionally been the average lifespan of any startup destined to either give up or get acquired.” The average age of the below exits is 23 months. 37 of the 61 exits occurred prior to 21 months of age, with seven companies being acquired at 20 months. The second most popular age to be acquired was 12 months, with six company exits. The remaining 24 companies had a lifespan between 21 months and 87 months.
Finally, its worth noting that Y Combinator has funded a total of 564 companies. More than 150 of those companies are less than 18 months old. Therefore, 80% of the companies are older than 18 months and have not been acquired.
| # | Company | Batch | Acquisition | Lifespan | Exit $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Xobni | June 1, 2006 (ycs06) | July 31, 2013 | 87 months | 60m |
| 2 | Loopt | June 1, 2005 (ycs05) | March 31, 2012 | 83 months | 45m |
| 3 | OMGPOP | June 1, 2006 (ycs06) | March 31, 2012 | 71 months | 210m |
| 4 | Wufoo | January 1, 2006 (ycw06) | April 30, 2011 | 65 months | 35m |
| 5 | Posterous | June 1, 2008 (ycs08) | March 31, 2012 | 47 months | 10m |
| 6 | Zecter (Versionate) | June 1, 2007 (ycs07) | December 31, 2010 | 44 months | 25m |
| 7 | Crocodoc | January 1, 2010 (ycw10) | May 31, 2013 | 42 months | |
| 8 | Gantto | June 1, 2010 (ycs10) | July 31, 2013 | 39 months | |
| 9 | Backtype | June 1, 2008 (ycs08) | July 31, 2011 | 39 months | |
| 10 | Heroku | January 1, 2008 (ycw08) | December 31, 2010 | 37 months | 250m |
| 11 | Simperium | June 1, 2010 (ycs10) | January 31, 2013 | 33 months | |
| 12 | DailyBooth | June 1, 2009 (ycs09) | January 31, 2012 | 32 months | |
| 13 | Appjet | June 1, 2007 (ycs07) | December 31, 2009 | 31 months | 10m |
| 14 | 280 North | January 1, 2008 (ycw08) | July 31, 2010 | 31 months | 20m |
| 15 | Zencoder | January 1, 2010 (ycw10) | July 31, 2012 | 31 months | |
| 16 | 1000Memories | June 1, 2010 (ycs10) | October 31, 2012 | 29 months | |
| 17 | Heysan | January 1, 2007 (ycw07) | May 31, 2009 | 29 months | |
| 18 | Mertado | January 1, 2010 (ycw10) | January 31, 2012 | 25 months | 10m |
| 19 | SocialPicks | June 1, 2007 (ycs07) | May 31, 2009 | 24 months | 8m |
| 20 | Cloudkick | January 1, 2009 (ycw09) | December 31, 2010 | 24 months | 50m |
| 21 | meetings.io | January 1, 2011 (ycw11) | November 31, 2012 | 23 months | |
| 22 | Parse | June 1, 2011 (ycs11) | April 30, 2013 | 23 months | 75m |
| 23 | Cardpool | January 1, 2010 (ycw10) | October 31, 2011 | 22 months | |
| 24 | Rapportive | June 1, 2010 (ycs10) | February 28, 2012 | 21 months | |
| 25 | Glassmap | June 1, 2011 (ycs11) | January 31, 2013 | 20 months | |
| 26 | TapEngage | June 1, 2011 (ycs11) | January 31, 2013 | 20 months | |
| 27 | PageLever | June 1, 2011 (ycs11) | January 31, 2013 | 20 months | |
| 28 | FlightCaster | June 1, 2009 (ycs09) | January 31, 2011 | 20 months | |
| 29 | Mailgun | January 1, 2011 (ycw11) | August 31, 2012 | 20 months | |
| 30 | Midnox | January 1, 2012 (ycw12) | August 31, 2013 | 20 months | |
| 31 | Embark | January 1, 2012 (ycw12) | August 31, 2013 | 20 months | |
| 32 | SnapJoy | June 1, 2011 (ycs11) | December 31, 2012 | 19 months | |
| 33 | Clickpass | June 1, 2007 (ycs07) | December 31, 2008 | 19 months | |
| 34 | Lingt | June 1, 2009 (ycs09) | December 31, 2010 | 19 months | |
| 35 | June 1, 2005 (ycs05) | October 31, 2006 | 17 months | ||
| 36 | Auctomatic | January 1, 2007 (ycw07) | April 30, 2008 | 16 months | 5m |
| 37 | Divvyshot | January 1, 2009 (ycw09) | April 30, 2010 | 16 months | |
| 38 | kiko | June 1, 2005 (ycs05) | August 31, 2006 | 15 months | 0.25m |
| 39 | Sendoid | January 1, 2011 (ycw11) | March 31, 2012 | 15 months | 2m |
| 40 | The Fridge | June 1, 2010 (ycs10) | July 31, 2011 | 14 months | |
| 41 | reMail | January 1, 2009 (ycw09) | February 28, 2010 | 14 months | |
| 42 | FanPulse | June 1, 2010 (ycs10) | June 30, 2011 | 13 months | |
| 43 | Slinkset | June 1, 2008 (ycs08) | June 30, 2009 | 13 months | |
| 44 | Stypi | June 1, 2011 (ycs11) | May 31, 2012 | 12 months | |
| 45 | Munch On Me | June 1, 2011 (ycs11) | May 31, 2012 | 12 months | |
| 46 | datamarketplace | January 1, 2010 (ycw10) | December 31, 2010 | 12 months | |
| 47 | AdGrok | June 1, 2010 (ycs10) | May 31, 2011 | 12 months | 8m |
| 48 | Movity | January 1, 2010 (ycw10) | December 31, 2010 | 12 months | 15m |
| 49 | Etacts | January 1, 2010 (ycw10) | December 31, 2010 | 12 months | 5m |
| 50 | VoiceGem | June 1, 2012 (ycs12) | February 28, 2013 | 9 months | |
| 51 | Whereoscope | June 1, 2010 (ycs10) | January 31, 2011 | 8 months | |
| 52 | Anywhere.fm | June 1, 2007 (ycs07) | January 31, 2008 | 8 months | 5m |
| 53 | SocialCam | January 1, 2012 (ycw12) | July 31, 2012 | 7 months | 60m |
| 54 | Omnisio | January 1, 2008 (ycw08) | July 31, 2008 | 7 months | 15m |
| 55 | Parakey | January 1, 2007 (ycw07) | July 31, 2007 | 7 months | |
| 56 | TextPayMe | January 1, 2006 (ycw06) | July 31, 2006 | 7 months | 5m |
| 57 | BufferBox | June 1, 2012 (ycs12) | November 30, 2012 | 6 months | |
| 58 | Zenter | January 1, 2007 (ycw07) | June 30, 2007 | 6 months | |
| 59 | GraffitiGeo | June 1, 2009 (ycs09) | October 31, 2009 | 5 months | |
| 60 | TalkBin | January 1, 2011 (ycw11) | April 30, 2011 | 4 months | |
| 61 | Infogami | June 1, 2005 (ycs05) | August 31, 2005 | 3 months | |
| Average Age: 23 months (1419 months/61 exits) | |||||