Benchling YC Application

Summer 2012Active

Benchling went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2012 batch as a B2B 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: Summer 2012
Industry: B2B
Team size: 750
Status: Active
Launched: 2012

Founders

Sajith WickramasekaraFounder/CEO

What Benchling does

Biotechnology is rewriting life as we know it, from the medicines we take, to the crops we grow, the materials we wear, and the household goods that we rely on every day. Biotech R&D is radically transforming our world, but to move at the new speed of science, scientists need better technology. Benchling’s mission is to unlock the power of biotechnology. The world’s biotech leaders and innovators use our R&D Cloud to power the development of breakthrough products and accelerate time to milestone and market.

Benchling's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Benchling, Summer 2012 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Benchling

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Modern software to power biotech R&D

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

We build Benchling's R&D Cloud, a software platform that biotech scientists use to design, document, and manage experiments and data. It helps researchers move faster by replacing outdated, fragmented tools with an integrated system designed specifically for modern biotech workflows.

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

We live and work in San Francisco, CA, and will base the company there after YC as well.

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Francisco is a hub for biotech startups and software talent. Being here puts us close to many biotech innovation centers and partners we serve.

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 Benchling YC application?

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