Article · 8 min read

Y Combinator reaps big rewards in India but its future in Asia is long over

Jon Russell · Asia Tech Review Freemium Intermediate India

This is the honest counterweight to YC's own pitch: the hard outcome data on what YC's India bet actually produced and why fewer Indian founders are taking the deal now. It reports YC banking ~$117M from Groww's IPO (still holding ~10 percent worth ~$1B) and a 100X-plus return on Meesho, then documents Indian batch participation collapsing from 96 companies in a peak year to four in 2024 and one Asian startup in 2025. Read it to see that the India-to-YC pipeline has thinned, which is a real signal about whether relocating to the Bay for a batch still fits where Indian capital and customers now are.

• YC's India returns are real and enormous (~$117M from Groww, 100X-plus on Meesho), proof the credibility stamp compounds when it works, but those are 2017-era bets, not today's odds
• Indian participation cratered from ~96 companies at peak to four in 2024 and one in 2025, a signal that domestic capital and India-first programs now cover more of what YC used to be the only source of
• YC now optimizes for global appeal over building local ecosystems, so weigh a Bay Area batch against staying close to Indian customers and investors, especially if your market is domestic