You asked about Generative AI
55 people built something like it. 8 are gone.
That is 16% of the ones whose fate we could settle, against 23% across the whole register. 5 were acquired.
| Launched | What it was | Today |
|---|---|---|
| 2023-01-01 | YCLiteLLM Call every LLM API like it's OpenAI [100+ LLMs] · litellm.ai | still up |
| 2022-06-01 | API for Retrieval Augmented Generation · superpowered.ai | gone |
| 2022-06-01 | YCTypeLess AI messaging API for smarter, faster communication. · apps.apple.com | still up |
| 2022-01-10 | databar.ai | still up |
| 2022-02-10 | emailkick.com | still up |
| 2022-06-16 | console.connect.earth | still up |
| 2022-03-16 | simplehash.com | unverified |
| 2023-03-28 | airwalker.io | gone |
| 2021-06-01 | YCAnakin One API to get clean data from any website for your AI agents at scale · anakin.io | still up |
| 2017-01-01 | Document AI. One API Call. · veryfi.com | still up |
| 2021-01-01 | YCMindee AI Document Understanding API · mindee.com | still up |
| 2020-06-01 | YCDecentro API Platform for Banking Integrations (Plaid for India and APAC) · decentro.tech | still up |
| 2011-01-01 | YCMailgun Email API service. · mailgun.net | acquired |
| 2023-08-20 | superfunctions.versoly.page | still up |
| 2023-11-13 | twogether.ai | moved |
| 2023-01-01 | hexmos.com | still up |
| 2023-03-05 | chatgptbay.com | gone |
| 2020-01-01 | The API to get recordings, transcripts, and metadata from meetings · recall.ai | still up |
| 2022-01-01 | YCTheneo Stripe-like API Docs in just a few clicks · theneo.io | still up |
| 2020-06-01 | YCAtomic API that lets companies embed investment accounts into their services · atomicvest.com | still up |
| 2021-01-01 | API for developers and AIs to access health data · tryterra.co | still up |
| 2021-04-02 | zenlogin.co | still up |
| 2023-03-07 | yobulk.dev | gone |
| 2021-10-21 | batsign.me | still up |
| 2022-01-01 | YCVelt SDK for adding an agent and human governance layer to your product · velt.dev | still up |
| 2023-07-17 | gpt342.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com | unverified |
| 2022-06-01 | YCInvofox Invofox is the document parsing and data extraction API for software… · invofox.com | still up |
| 2026-08-25 | keenable.ai | unverified |
| 2014-01-01 | YCWit.ai Natural Language for Developers --Wit is an API that makes it easy… · wit.ai | acquired |
| 2021-01-01 | YCMystic Low latency API to run and deploy ML models · mystic.ai | still up |
| 2014-01-01 | YCRickshaw Same day local delivery, via API. Currently operating in SF. · gorickshaw.com | acquired |
| 2022-07-01 | taddy.org | still up |
| 2023-05-17 | backengine.dev | moved |
| 2023-06-01 | YCSkyvern Open Source AI Agent to automate browser workflows via an API · skyvern.com | still up |
| 2023-01-01 | YCScanbase The API for Diagnostic Test Analysis (COVID-19, FLU, RSV, STD,… · scanbase.com | still up |
| 2022-01-29 | typing.ai | still up |
| 2022-09-30 | airql.dev | still up |
| 2022-11-15 | whisperapi.com | still up |
| 2023-01-01 | Usage Metering, AI & API Monetization · openmeter.io | acquired |
| 2024-01-01 | YCTrieve All-in-one API for search, RAG, & recommendations · trieve.ai | acquired |
| 2023-11-14 | alignapi.com | still up |
| 2022-11-30 | basement.dev | unverified |
| 2024-06-01 | YCVideoGen Create professional videos in minutes with AI, online or via API · videogen.io | still up |
| 2026-08-19 | marginalhq.com | unverified |
| 2023-05-04 | llm.report | unverified |
| 2023-02-17 | embedbase.xyz | unverified |
| 2026-06-01 | YCLuca IQ API-first tax engine for CPA firms and developers · lucaiq.com | still up |
| 2023-12-26 | aisbreaker.org | still up |
| 2022-10-05 | mesh.martify.io | gone |
| 2023-12-21 | sunnybox.io | still up |
| 2023-08-08 | litellm.ai | still up |
| 2026-09-01 | wasmer.io | unverified |
| 2023-06-06 | tryabide.co | gone |
| 2018-01-01 | Point stores things you send over and over again and helps you re-use… · pointapi.com | gone |
| 2026-06-01 | YCSpeko OpenRouter for Voice AI: one API, every call on the best speech model · speko.ai | still up |
| 2023-06-01 | The API for LLM tool use · opentools.com | still up |
| 2022-06-01 | The API to search, scrape, and interact with the web at scale. 🔥 · firecrawl.dev | still up |
| 2025-09-01 | API for parsing multimodal unstructured data · unsiloed.ai | still up |
| 2024-06-01 | Turn any website into an API. · expand.ai | still up |
| 2025-09-01 | YCThe Hog Real-time web intelligence API for AI agents and GTM teams · thehog.ai | still up |
How this compares
Y Combinator reports its own outcomes, including acquisitions. The other two are judged by asking the domain, so they are not measured the same way and are never averaged together.
The register re-probes every domain it holds. Some that answered last month stop answering. We send that list — what went quiet, and what it was — once a month. Nothing else.
How this was made. Show HN entries are every post from 2021 to 2023 with at least five points that linked to its own domain; code hosts and free hosting are excluded, because a repository outlives the effort behind it. Product Hunt entries needed 100 votes — a far higher bar, so they are the promoted top slice rather than a like-for-like sample. Both are judged by asking the domain whether it still answers: gone means it no longer resolves, refuses the connection, serves a parking page, or says plainly that it shut down. An HTTP error is not counted as gone — a server answering 404 is one somebody still pays for, and an audit of 25 gone-calls found two such sites alive with only a moved homepage. Y Combinator entries use the status YC publishes itself, which is why only those can say acquired. Squatted domains — a lapsed name now serving somebody else's site — are not detected, so these figures run slightly low.