Rise Reforming YC Application

Summer 2026Active

Chicago

Rise Reforming went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2026 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: Summer 2026
Industry: IndustrialsClimate
Location: Chicago
Team size: 4
Status: Active
Launched: 2026

Founders

George RoseFounder/CEO
Lucas ZubillagaFounder/CTO
Jona van OordFounder/COO

What Rise Reforming does

Geopolitical conflicts and natural disasters frequently expose the vulnerability of the American chemical industry. The reason? Production is centralized and fossil fuel-dependent. The solution? Localized production using an undervalued resource: biogas. The US produces enough biogas to make over $20 bn/y worth of chemicals, but 60% is wasted in low-margin applications or flared altogether. Rise Reforming is commercializing a modular process to transform this underutilized biogas on-site into cheap, supply-secure chemicals. Our beachhead market is dimethyl ether (DME), used as an aerosol propellant and a low-carbon fuel additive in propane. Our target market is methanol: an established billion $ chemical and the future of low-carbon shipping. We're doing our pilot project at a Chicagoland wastewater plant. This will be the first wastewater biogas-to-methanol demo in the Americas. We're hiring for a senior chemical process engineer. Apply here:

Rise Reforming's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Rise Reforming, Summer 2026 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Rise Reforming

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

We turn waste gases into supply-secure chemicals

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

We build modular chemical plants that convert on-site waste biogas into useful chemicals. Our current focus is a process that turns biogas from wastewater plants into dimethyl ether (DME) and methanol. We install our units at locations where biogas is produced and give customers a way to make valuable chemicals instead of wasting the gas. This helps users replace fossil-based supply chains with local, secure sources for industrial chemicals.

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

We are based in Chicago, IL, and will stay there after YC.

Explain your decision regarding location.

Chicago has a huge industrial base and active biogas production, making it a great place to pilot our reactors and work with early customers. Our first pilot is already here at a local wastewater plant.

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 Rise Reforming YC application?

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