BioRender YC Application

Winter 2018Active

BioRender went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2018 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: Winter 2018
Industry: B2B
Team size: 205
Status: Active
Launched: 2017

Founders

Ryan MarienFounder
Katya ShteynFounder

What BioRender does

You can think of BioRender as the ‘Figma/Canva for scientists’, with a suite of web-based graphics communication products to empower scientists to create beautiful scientific visuals and presentations with ease. BioRender is the world’s first tool to help scientists create and share beautiful, professional scientific figures. Our mission is to accelerate the world’s ability to learn, discover and communicate science. We are passionate about democratizing science communication in order to accelerate scientific discovery and understanding.

BioRender's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

BioRender, Winter 2018 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

BioRender

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Figma/Canva for scientists

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

We have built a web-based graphics tool to help scientists create publication-ready scientific figures and presentations quickly. Our product offers a library of scientific icons and templates tailored to the needs of researchers, making it easier to communicate complex science visually.

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

We live in Toronto, Canada, and the company is based there with a distributed remote team. After YC, we would continue operating from Toronto while leveraging remote work.

Explain your decision regarding location.

We are based in Toronto where we built initial traction and a strong team, but support remote work to access talent globally. The city provides a good balance of opportunity and cost.

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 BioRender YC application?

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