Abalone Bio YC Application

Winter 2020Active

Abalone Bio went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2020 batch as a Healthcare company. Below: what the company does, who founded it, and its application to YC, reconstructed question by question in the real YC form.

YC batch: Winter 2020
Industry: HealthcareDrug Discovery and Delivery
Team size: 14
Status: Active
Launched: 2020

Founders

Richard YuFounder
Gustavo PesceFounder

What Abalone Bio does

Abalone Bio is tackling challenging undrugged targets underlying diseases affecting millions, focusing first cell-specific antibody drugs to treat obesity and metabolic disease without the GI side effects that cause 25% of GLP-1 drug patients to quit after 1 year. + High throughput experimental measurement uniquely leverages AI/ML: We’ve engineered cells to measure antibodies for pharmacological activity, not just structure or binding like others, 100 million at a time, 100X+ the throughput of others. With our large, proprietary activity datasets, we uniquely leverage ML to both unlock the discovery of rare hits and generate optimized hits for challenging targets, starting with G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) + Proven success: We have developed antibody agonists (activators) for 2 out of the 8 G-protein coupled receptors ever drugged by biotech. + Pharma traction: We’ve secured 3 partnerships with $3M in revenue and $125M in downstream value. + Externally validated science: We’ve been awarded $7M in non-dilutive grant funding for platform and program development.

Abalone Bio's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Abalone Bio, Winter 2020 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Abalone Bio

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

We create activating antibodies to treat diseases others can't.

What is your company going to make? Please describe your product and what it does or will do.

We build a platform that combines high-throughput experimental antibody screening with machine learning to discover activating antibodies targeting cell-specific receptors. Our product enables discovery and optimization of rare antibody hits against challenging targets like GPCRs, starting in obesity and metabolic diseases, focusing on safety and efficacy beyond current drugs.

Where do you live now, and where would the company be based after YC?

We live in San Francisco, CA, and the company is based here.

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Francisco is a hub for biotech and AI talent, which is critical for our platform combining synthetic biology and machine learning. Being in SF keeps us close to partners and investors focused on healthcare innovation.

21 more answers in the full application

Founders, Progress, Idea, Equity, Curious, Batch Preference are in the full version. Create a free account to open it in YC Insights, next to every other YC batch.

See full application

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the real Abalone Bio YC application?

No. Y Combinator keeps submitted applications private. This is a reconstruction: the real YC form questions, answered from Abalone Bio's public data (launch notes, founder backgrounds, product description). It shows how a company like Abalone Bio would present itself to YC, not the text they submitted.