OpenAI offers $2M in tokens to every current YC startup

TechCrunch reports that OpenAI offered $2M worth of tokens to each startup in the current Y Combinator class, which YC says includes about 169 startups. The deal is structured as an uncapped SAFE, so OpenAI's equity stake would convert at the startup's next priced round rather than at a fixed valuation today. The move is clever and controversial. For startups, token credits can offset one of the largest early AI infrastructure costs. For OpenAI, the offer creates equity exposure and pushes a whole batch of startups to build on OpenAI rather than Anthropic, Google, or open-source stacks. The risk is lock-in and idea exposure: founders are trading scarce equity for compute that may get cheaper over time.

Key details: OpenAI, Sam Altman, Y Combinator, $2M in tokens per startup, 169 startups, uncapped SAFE, current YC batch.

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