Helix Nanotechnologies YC Application

Winter 2017Active

Helix Nanotechnologies went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2017 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 2017
Industry: HealthcareDrug Discovery and Delivery
Team size: 22
Status: Active
Launched: 2016

Founders

Nikolai EroshenkoFounder/CSO

What Helix Nanotechnologies does

Technology finds information and delivers physical products to us almost instantly. mRNA does the same for biology. At HelixNano, we see a world where treatments are cheap, progress is decentralized, and you can modify biology at the push of a button. By focusing on mRNA improvements from first principles, we’re getting there faster than we thought. Experiments that used to take months or years can be done in weeks and cost thousands instead of millions. The rate limiting step for our progress is now scientific curiosity. Rigid hierarchies and top-down decisions will miss the magic. Some of our most powerful technologies started out as side projects of junior team members. At HelixNano, every individual scientist can have a massive impact on the company's direction. And the more diverse our team, the faster we’ll find the really cool ideas. We've started rolling out some of our new tech - moving a COVID-19 vaccine candidate for the immunocompromised towards the clinic, and testing an intervention with massive environmental impact. But we’re scientists at heart, and team focus is solidly on the horizon.

Helix Nanotechnologies's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Helix Nanotechnologies, Winter 2017 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Helix Nanotechnologies

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Next-generation mRNA platform for disease and climate

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

We are building an mRNA platform that improves the speed and cost of developing therapies. Our technology allows experiments that once took months or years to be done in weeks, and for thousands of dollars instead of millions. We are advancing a COVID-19 vaccine candidate for the immunocompromised and testing an intervention aimed at climate impact.

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

We live and work in Boston and Cambridge, MA, and will base the company there after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

Boston and Cambridge are biotech hubs with deep scientific talent and collaborators. Being here helps us attract the right team and stay on the cutting edge of RNA technology.

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 Helix Nanotechnologies YC application?

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