Valgo YC Application
Valgo went through Y Combinator in the Winter 2026 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
- Winter 2026
- Industry
- B2BEngineering, Product and Design
- Team size
- 3
- Status
- Active
- Launched
- 2025
Founders
Robert MossCo-Founder and CEO
Sydney KatzCo-Founder and CTO
Jon QianCo-founder and President
What Valgo does
Insurers struggle to price autonomous systems because the historical data simply doesn't exist. Your car insurance draws from over 30 billion claims records, but autonomous trucks and robots have nearly zero. Valgo is the risk quantification platform that closes that gap. We are building probabilistic models of routes, tasks, and environments from the bottom up. We output a simulated loss estimate that insurers need to price coverage. Valgo is the foundational layer that gives insurance providers confidence to properly price autonomy risk. Our team combines expertise in risk estimation for autonomy with deep experience in the insurance industry. Sydney and Robert are Stanford PhDs with leading expertise in safety of physical AI systems. Sydney wrote the textbook on validating safety-critical systems and teaches the course at Stanford. Robert spent 7 years at MIT Lincoln Laboratory on the core team that designed and validated an FAA-certified aircraft collision avoidance system, now a worldwide standard. Jon is a Sloan Fellow from the Stanford GSB and an actuary who spent over 12 years in insurance leadership and led over $5 billion in M&A as head of corporate development for one of the largest insurers in Asia-Pacific.
Valgo's YC application, reconstructed
Y Combinator application
Valgo, Winter 2026 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.
- Founders2
- Company7
- Progress7
- Idea4
- Equity3
- Curious2
- Batch Preference1
Company
Valgo
Insurance risk layer for physical AI
We build probabilistic models simulating autonomous routes, tasks, and environments to estimate loss events. Our platform outputs simulated loss estimates insurers use to price coverage for autonomous trucks and robots, where no historical claims data exists.
We live and work in San Francisco, CA, and the company will be based there after YC as well.
San Francisco is where our team resides and where the concentration of insurance and autonomy technology companies is highest, making it the best location for product development and customer engagement.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this the real Valgo YC application?
No. Y Combinator keeps submitted applications private. This is a reconstruction: the real YC form questions, answered from Valgo's public data (launch notes, founder backgrounds, product description). It shows how a company like Valgo would present itself to YC, not the text they submitted.
What YC batch was Valgo in?
Valgo was part of the Y Combinator Winter 2026 batch.
Who founded Valgo?
Valgo was founded by Robert Moss, Sydney Katz, Jon Qian.
What does Valgo do?
Insurance risk layer for physical AI
How do I read the full reconstructed application?
Create a free Round Funded account. The full 26-answer version of Valgo's application, and every other YC batch, is in YC Insights.
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