Before some startup founders raise their Series A, they’ll be raising AI tokens.<\/p>\n
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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman<\/a> announced a new offer for Y Combinator’s current batch of founders: fork over some equity, and OpenAI will offer up $2 million in API tokens. YC general partner Tyler Bosmeny called it<\/a> a “mic drop moment.”<\/p>\n “I am excited to see what will happen with tokenmaxxing startups, both for how they work internally and the products they can build,” Altman wrote on X<\/a>. “Happy building!”<\/p>\n The pilot program will be available for spring and summer 2026 batches of the Y Combinator startup accelerator, according to a person familiar with the offering.<\/p>\n A mic drop moment @ycombinator<\/a> tonight@sama<\/a> just offered $2M in OpenAI tokens to EVERY YC startup in the current batch in exchange for equity<\/p>\n Just like Yuri Milner offering to invest in every startup back when Sam was a YC partner<\/p>\n I can’t wait to see what’s unlocked when you\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/5KlRA2lNGj<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Tyler Bosmeny (@bosmeny) May 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n The person familiar with the offering said that participating startups will sign<\/a> an uncapped Simple Agreement for Future Equity, or SAFE, agreement. That means OpenAI’s eventual ownership stake would be determined in a future financing round, rather than being fixed upfront.<\/p>\n The SAFE will not include a Most Favored Nation, or MFN, provision, the person said. In other words, if a startup later issues another SAFE with better terms, OpenAI would not automatically receive those terms. By contrast, the $375,000 uncapped SAFE in Y Combinator’s standard deal<\/a> does include an MFN provision.<\/p>\n The accelerator’s startups often already score steep token discounts<\/a>. The partners do, too; Ankit Gupta wrote on X<\/a> that “one of the clutch perks of being a partner at YC is having unlimited budget to spend on tokens.”<\/p>\n Not all were fans of the deal. Investor and “All-In” cohost Jason Calacanis told founders<\/a> to “be careful,” warning that OpenAI could one day incorporate a startup’s idea into their own product. Y Combinator did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.<\/p>\n Roshan Kumaraswamy, who founded the YC-backed startup Apten, responded to<\/a> Calacanis: “The startups are buying openai tokens anyways…”<\/p>\n Altman’s deal is a twist on traditional investing \u2014 and yet another sign of how AI is changing startup economics.<\/p>\n Tokens are a measurement of computing that help determine bills for AI usage, such as operating an AI coding agent or processing a chatbot conversation. While many new companies are now running with leaner teams<\/a>, they’re racking up high token bills in the process.<\/p>\n Y Combinator incentivized this change. In a recent episode of the accelerator’s “Startup School” series<\/a>, partner Diana Hu advised founders to embrace tokenmaxxing over headcountmaxxing.(Translation: spend your budget on AI tokens, not new employees.)<\/p>\n Altman himself has a long history of funding startups, especially through Y Combinator. He served as the accelerator’s president from 2014 to 2019.<\/p>\n Some of Altman’s investments came up during his trial with Elon Musk. His stake in Helion Energy, for example, was worth more than $1.6 billion<\/a> as of the end of 2025.<\/p>\n The Y Combinator deal will run through OpenAI, rather than Altman personally, per his X post.<\/p>\n