A new graph from Bram Sugarman highlights Canadian-headquartered companies in Y Combinator (YC) by batch, revealing fluctuations in enrollment. During the pandemic, YC’s remote format likely boosted Canadian participation, though the data excludes companies with Canadian founders. When those are counted, the Winter 2024 cohort triples to 12 startups.
YC CEO Garry Tan acknowledged the trend, stating that Canadian startups raising funds and staying in San Francisco post-demo day become unicorns 2.5X more often. A recent YC dinner also revealed many Canadian founders opting to relocate permanently. The question remains: is Canada losing its top startups to Silicon Valley?
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