Recent Posts By Jared Friedman
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Ginkgo Bioworks (S14) is going public today
by Jared Friedman9/17/2021
Ginkgo Bioworks is thefirst biotech company YC funded, and today they are going public. To celebratetheir IPO, here’s the story of how Ginkgo Bioworks ended up in YC, and whattheir journey was like as YC’s first biotech startup.In 2014, YC had been funding startups for 9 years, but we’d mostly fundedsoftware companies. While we hadn’t funded many, we thought that the YC modelmight work well for hard-tech companies.
How to spin your scientific research out of a university and into a startup
by Jared Friedman10/28/2020
This is advice for people who have done scientific research at a university andare considering starting a company to commercialize it.At YC, we’ve funded more than 75 companies in this situation. We also recentlywent on a Bio Tour where wewent around to research universities and talked with hundreds of students andprofessors in the life sciences about commercializing their research.
First YC Bio company to start clinical trials
by Jared Friedman10/14/2020
Shasqi is the first YC Bio company to start first-in-humanclinical trials for a drug.We’re very excited to share the news that Shasqi is the first YC Bio company to have a drug enter first-in-humanclinical trials1.
Responding to COVID-19
by Jared Friedman3/25/2020
In order to confront the COVID-19 crisis, we need to immediately mobilize globalscientific and technical talent. There are already a number of YC companies that are helping with the crisis, and we’relooking for more startups that, if successful, could alter the trajectory ofCOVID-19.
YC and Ginkgo Bioworks announce new partnership for synthetic biology startups
by Jared Friedman9/16/2019
Ginkgo Bioworks was the first bio company YCfunded, back in summer 2014, which makes us especially delighted to announce anew partnership between YC and Ginkgo.Ginkgo Bioworks programs cells. They program them to produce flavors,fragrances, cannabinoids, food proteins, and more.
How Biotech Startup Funding Will Change in the Next 10 Years
by Jared Friedman8/5/2019
Back when YC was getting started about 10 years ago, Paul Graham wrote some essays that predicted the way startupfundraising would change in the next decade – accurately, it turns out.
YC Partners With Atomwise to Fund More Bio Companies
by Jared Friedman4/29/2019
In the last 10 years, the tools for studying biology have become much lessexpensive and more widely available. This has made it possible for new startupsto do serious research right from the start, and it is leading to an explosionof biotech startups.One of the key tools that has brought down the cost of developing drugs iscomputational drug discovery.