Harper YC Application

Winter 2025Active

Harper went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2025 batch as a Fintech 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 2025
Industry: FintechInsurance
Team size: 25
Status: Active
Launched: 2024

Founders

Dakotah RiceFounder
Tushar NairFounder

What Harper does

At Harper, we are building a fully autonomous commercial insurance brokerage powered by AI. Our initial focus is on mid-sized businesses with complex insurance needs, but our vision is to eventually serve every business in the country. By leveraging AI to automate key workflows in the insurance process, we efficiently secure optimal coverage for each client's unique requirements at competitive prices and with rapid turnaround. Our AI system learns from the expertise of our brokers, accumulating not just knowledge but also the specific workflows, data, and capabilities that pave the way to full autonomy.

Harper's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Harper, Winter 2025 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Harper

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

AI-native commercial insurance brokerage

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

We built an autonomous commercial insurance brokerage that uses AI to perform complex underwriting and policy selection for mid-sized businesses. Our system automates workflows that brokers usually execute, learning from their expertise to optimize coverage and speed for each client's unique risks.

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

We're based in San Francisco, and the company will remain here after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

San Francisco provides access to top AI and fintech talent and positions us close to insurance markets and investors. It's critical for hiring and building relationships in the financial infrastructure space.

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 Harper YC application?

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