Sam Altman makes ‘mic drop’ offer to every Y Combinator startup
Sam Altman announced a significant investment offer during a Y Combinator event, proposing $2 million in OpenAI tokens to each startup in the current cohort. This investment will be made in exchange for equity, allowing startups to utilize AI tokens for product development. The deal has sparked discussions about its potential benefits and risks for early-stage companies.
- ▪Sam Altman offered $2 million worth of OpenAI tokens to every startup in the current Y Combinator class.
- ▪The investment will be made in exchange for equity, with terms depending on the startup's valuation during future funding rounds.
- ▪The deal is structured as an uncapped SAFE, which could benefit founders by minimizing the equity given up if their valuation increases.
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| Original publisher | TechCrunch |
| Canonical URL | https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/20/sam-altman-makes-mic-drop-offer-to-every-y-combinator-startup/ |
| Publication time | Wed, 20 May 2026 21:23:02 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-20T21:25:02.995Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-20T21:25:02.995Z |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
During a Y Combinator event on Tuesday night, Sam Altman had what YC partner Tyler Bosmeny called a “mic drop moment.” Altman offered $2 million worth of OpenAI tokens to every startup in the current class in exchange for equity in the startup. In other words, he promised that OpenAI would invest in the whole class, not with cash but with an allotment of AI tokens that startups can use to build their products. i am excited to see what will happen with tokenmaxxing startups, both for how they work internally and the products they can build.openai offered to invest $2M in tokens into every startup in the current yc batch.happy building! https://t.co/YSHYJoutuf— Sam Altman (@sama) May 20, 2026 Y Combinator has about 169 startups in this cohort, according to its directory.
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