AfterQuery Becomes Y Combinator's Fastest Unicorn at $3.2B Valuation

AI training-data startup AfterQuery has reportedly raised a funding round that values the company at $3.2 billion, just five months after announcing a $30 million Series A at a $300 million valuation in April. This marks a more than 10x increase in valuation in under six months. According to Y Combinator partner Gustaf Alströmer, this is the fastest that any startup has gone from launch to unicorn status in the accelerator's history. AfterQuery's founders, aged 22 and 23, participated in Y Combinator's Winter 2025 cohort just 18 months ago. In April, the San Francisco-based startup reported an annualized revenue run rate of $100 million and said it was working with several major AI labs. The company has named Nvidia, Legora, and Korean AI lab Motif Technologies as customers. AfterQuery is part of a new wave of startups, following in the footsteps of Mercor and Scale, that hire knowledge professionals—such as doctors, lawyers, and other specialists—to assist with model training. However, instead of focusing on improving answer accuracy, AfterQuery trains AI models and agents to perform tasks the way professionals would. The company describes this as “encoding the patterns, decisions, and reasoning of the world’s best practitioners.” Forbes first reported the round. AfterQuery could not be reached for immediate comment.

via TechCrunch AI