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Exa (YC S21) — Web search rebuilt for LLMs

Exa is a search engine built for AIs. We enable developers to filter the internet's content with complex queries in order to bring the world's knowledge into their AI apps.

Exa is a Y Combinator company in the Summer 2021 batch. Its directory entry describes it as: Web search rebuilt for LLMs. The founders listed are William Bryk (Founder/CEO), Jeffrey Wang (Founder) (Y Combinator directory entry, August 6, 2021).

6 more companies from YC Summer 2021 ↓

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Exa

New accelerator entry · 2021-08-06 · the record

Summer 2021
batch
75
people
Growth
stage
United States of America
region
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What the record says

BatchSummer 2021
Announced2021-08-06
StageGrowth
StatusActive
Team size75
IndustryB2B
Sub-industryB2B
SectorsDeveloper Tools, Search, AI, APIs
RegionsUnited States of America, America / Canada
BasedSan Francisco, CA, USA
HiringNo
Sitehttps://exa.ai
Founded2021
YC group partnerNicolas Dessaigne
Previously known asExa Search, Metaphor

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Also in YC Summer 2021

Same batch, B2B first.

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In their words

Exa is a search engine built for AIs. We enable developers to filter the internet's content with complex queries in order to bring the world's knowledge into their AI apps.

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  2. Which Company This Is

  3. What They Do, And How The Money Works

  4. Who Runs It, And How To Reach Them

  5. The Money: Funding, Valuation, Runway

  6. Who Pays Them, And Who They Are Up Against

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  8. Sources

    8 cited sources found

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If you're behind Exa: acceptance into a YC batch is one of the few weeks a young company gets looked up by people who matter — investors, other founders, press. FoxPlug turns the commits, deploys, and releases you're already making into that story automatically, so anyone who looks finds something current. GetFoxChat puts a guide on your own site so the people YC's own page just sent you don't read one line and leave.

Sourced from the company's Y Combinator directory entry, and from the company's own site, read directly on 2026-09-27 (exa.ai).

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Exa: Accepted into Y Combinator Summer 2021
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Permanent URL: https://mentionfox.com/funding/yc-exa
Last updated 2026-10-20
Primary record: Y Combinator directory entry
Exa (YC S21) — Web search rebuilt for LLMs. MentionFox, 2026-10-20. https://mentionfox.com/funding/yc-exa