Outerport YC Application

Summer 2024Active

Outerport went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2024 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 2024
Industry: B2BEngineering, Product and Design
Team size: 4
Status: Active
Launched: 2024

Founders

Towaki TakikawaCo-Founder / CEO

What Outerport does

Building out new LNG plants, HVAC systems, or semiconductor processes rely on hundreds of iterations of feasibility testing (through simulation or real-world lab tests) where different designs (combinations of equipment) and parameters are validated. The parameters are often locked in PDFs (datasheets, wiring diagrams, PFDs/P&IDs) which take thousands of hours to convert into CSVs / JSONs, and the simulators don't have an easy API to work with. Outerport bridges the gap by finding documents from PLMs, extracting structured data from drawings, building a knowledge graph over them, and building autonomous AI agents that can fully automate this R&D process by running simulations and performing design checks.

Outerport's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Outerport, Summer 2024 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Outerport

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

AI tools for engineering R&D automation

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

We build software that ingests and searches PLMs, extracts structured data from complex engineering drawings locked in PDFs, and builds knowledge graphs over them. Our AI agents run simulations and design checks autonomously to automate feasibility testing for projects like LNG plants, HVAC systems, and semiconductor processes.

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

We live and work in San Francisco, CA. Outerport will be based here after YC as well.

Explain your decision regarding location.

Being in San Francisco gives us access to engineers and product teams in the industrial tech space, plus proximity to YC and the startup ecosystem, which helps with hiring and partnerships.

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 Outerport YC application?

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