Vinci Games YC Application

Summer 2022Active

Vinci Games went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2022 batch as a Consumer 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: ConsumerGaming
Team size: 7
Status: Active
Launched: 2022

Founders

Nathaniel VenturaFounder
Maciej SzcześnikFounder

What Vinci Games does

Vinci Games (YC S22) is building the next generation of social multiplayer VR games. Our first title, Blacktop Hoops, became one of the highest-rated sports games on Meta Quest with a passionate global community and critical acclaim. Our second title, Ruffnauts, is already one of the fastest growing F2P releases of 2025 on Meta Quest, with 30K+ reviews at 4.9 stars in its first month of Alpha Early Access. Ruffnauts combines creature catching, chaotic physics, and Gorilla Tag style locomotion into a groundbreaking VR adventure. The company is led by CEO Nathaniel Ventura (ex-Oculus, Google, Meta) and CTO Maciej Szcześnik, former lead gameplay designer at CD Projekt Red for The Witcher series. Our mission is to create genre-defining VR experiences that bring millions of players together.

Vinci Games's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

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

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

Vinci Games

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

Creating genre-defining multiplayer VR games.

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

We build social multiplayer VR games focused on new gameplay genres. Our first game, Blacktop Hoops, is a highly rated VR sports title on Meta Quest. Our current release, Ruffnauts, blends creature catching, chaotic physics, and Gorilla Tag-style locomotion into a multiplayer VR adventure that's gaining traction rapidly.

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

We live in Berkeley, CA, and the company is based there, with much of the team working remotely.

Explain your decision regarding location.

Berkeley is our base because of proximity to Silicon Valley and strong local tech talent. Remote work allows us to tap talent beyond the area while keeping centralized leadership near home.

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 Vinci Games YC application?

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