Prometheus YC Application

Winter 2019Active

Prometheus went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2019 batch as a Industrials 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 2019
Industry: IndustrialsEnergy
Team size: 25
Status: Active
Launched: 2018

Founders

Rob McGinnisFounder/CEO

What Prometheus does

We remove CO2 and water from the air and use electricity from solar and wind power to turn them into zero net carbon electrofuels. These are gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels that work in existing cars, trucks and planes without requiring modification of their engines, and don't contribute to global warming because they don't add any new CO2 to the atmosphere. Each gallon of our electrofuels means a gallon of fossil oil left in the ground forever. Importantly, these fuels for the first time can compete with fossil fuels on price - our zero net carbon jet fuel has a price of one cent per gallon less than fossil jet fuel. American Airlines ordered 10 million gallons of this fuel and we will start shipping it next year.

Prometheus's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Prometheus, Winter 2019 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Prometheus

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Making zero net carbon gasoline, diesel, jet fuels

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

We remove CO2 and water from air and convert them using electricity from solar and wind into electrofuels that work in existing engines without modifications. Our fuels replace fossil gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel without adding new carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. We are scaling this to deliver commercial volumes starting next year.

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

We live and work in Santa Cruz, California, and plan to remain headquartered here after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

Santa Cruz has the technical talent and renewable energy resources we need. We've built our team and pilot facilities here, so it makes sense to stay in a place that supports our work on electrofuels production.

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 Prometheus YC application?

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