Sunlight YC Application

Summer 2022Active

Sunlight went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2022 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: Summer 2022
Industry: Fintech
Team size: 6
Status: Active
Launched: 2022

Founders

Guy ZivFounder
Leo ChaneaFounder
Gil PeretzFounder

What Sunlight does

Sunlight is an API to change the card-on-file with apps and subscription services. Fintechs use Sunlight to automatically make their cards top-of-wallet as soon as they're issued. Merchants, service providers and subscriptions-based businesses everywhere now offer their customers the ability to save a debit/credit card on file, so they can pay their bills on time, buy in one click, or earn rewards. In 2021, 79% of consumers worldwide reported already having at least one payment card saved with a service or being open to doing so. In recent years, card-issuing as-a-service has become mainstream: any company can now start their own card business in a matter of weeks. Last year, the number of new payment cards issued was at an all-time high. For users, however, switching banks or opening a new card now comes with an additional hurdle: they need to update their payment info across the internet. On the other side of that equation, card issuers have no visibility or control over the card-on-file updating process, and as a result struggle to get their new users to switch their spend from their old card to the new one, leading to low conversion rates and missed revenue opportunities. Until Sunlight. With our universal get-your-card-on-file API, FIs can now offer their users, at any point in their journey, a quick and easy way to update their debit/credit card info everywhere they shop or pay online, without ever leaving their Apps. The Sunlight API works on every platform that has a card-on-file option (think Uber, Amazon, Netflix, DoorDash, Starbucks and so many more…), is as seamless as a Plaid connection, and always gets the card number and CVV code right on the first try!

Sunlight's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

Sunlight, Summer 2022 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Sunlight

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

The Universal Card-On-File API

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

We built an API that lets financial institutions update their users' card-on-file information automatically across merchant apps and subscription services. When a card is issued or refreshed, Sunlight updates it everywhere the user has saved their card, without them needing to go to each app to change it.

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

We are based in New York, NY, and Tel Aviv-Yafo, Tel Aviv District, Israel.

Explain your decision regarding location.

We're split between the US and Israel because that's where our founding team lives and works. Both locations have strong fintech ecosystems, which helps us build and sell Sunlight.

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 Sunlight YC application?

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