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This French venture capitalist transitioned from sharing content on YouTube to securing a $12 million fund dedicated to Y Combinator-backed startups.

This French venture capitalist transitioned from sharing content on YouTube to securing a $12 million fund dedicated to Y Combinator-backed startups.

Bitget-RWA2025/09/29 20:51
By:Bitget-RWA

The venture capital world is full of investors boasting about their exclusive access to the next breakout startup. In contrast, Gabriel Jarrosson, a French engineer who became a YouTuber and later an investor, has structured his VC firm around a single principle: he only invests in Y Combinator startups—if a company isn’t part of YC, he passes on the opportunity.

This focused approach took Jarrosson from recording basic venture videos in Paris to overseeing assets exceeding $12 million at Lobster Capital, with a second, larger fund already underway, as indicated by recent SEC documents. His reasoning is straightforward: he’s convinced that YC’s consistent success in producing billion-dollar companies outpaces the odds of finding winners elsewhere.

Back in 2017, frustrated by the limited access to top French startups, Jarrosson started a YouTube channel to document his investment experiences in French.

His channel quickly attracted a dedicated audience, eventually becoming one of Europe’s largest angel syndicates. Since 2020, it has invested $36 million in startups, the majority of which are YC graduates. This track record led to the creation of Lobster Capital, which closed its first fund at $12 million, well above its $8 million goal.

Jarrosson’s exclusive focus on YC startups is grounded in statistics. According to one report, about 4.5% of YC-backed startups achieve unicorn status, compared to just 2.5% for other seed-stage, venture-backed companies. Additionally, nearly 45% of YC companies secure Series A funding, outpacing the 33% average.

YC has also produced over 90 unicorns, with approximately 25% of those reaching decacorn status.

For this reason, Jarrosson isn’t discouraged by the higher valuations that YC startups often command at the seed stage compared to their non-YC counterparts.

“When you consider the math behind venture capital and the potential returns, these outcomes are obviously beneficial for your portfolio. As an investor, you have to ask, does this company have unicorn potential?” Jarrosson told TechCrunch.

“If the answer is yes, it’s often worth investing even if the valuation is a bit higher—whether it’s a $20 million, $30 million, or even $40 million seed round. Some investors will pass, and that’s okay. But I choose to invest.”

Catching the AI wave and using content as a competitive advantage

Like many early-stage investors, Lobster Capital has benefited from the influx of AI-focused startups dominating recent YC cohorts. Jarrosson notes that three consecutive batches have broken accelerator records for revenue growth, with some companies reaching millions in annual recurring revenue within just a few months.

Some reports suggest that this rapid ARR growth may be unstable, sometimes inflated by pilot programs or annual contracts with high churn. Jarrosson acknowledges these risks but maintains that generating early revenue is the toughest challenge, and believes most startups can address retention issues.

On a broader level, the main challenge to Jarrosson’s strategy is access, since YC demo days attract hundreds of funds all vying for the same deals.

Jarrosson attributes his advantage to his reputation within the YC community, the visibility his content provides, and his own experience as a founder. YC founders rate investors on Bookface, YC’s internal platform, and Jarrosson says positive reviews help him secure allocations.

His podcast, which features YC founders, and his 40,000+ LinkedIn followers—where he shares his investment insights and YC-related content—also serve as ongoing marketing tools.

“I strive to support founders. Many hear about my firm through social media, and as someone who has built companies myself, they know I can offer practical help—unlike many funds led by people without operating experience,” said Jarrosson, who has launched and exited several startups, according to his LinkedIn.

Jarrosson is among a new wave of investors leveraging personal brands to build funds. He points to Harry Stebbings, the 20VC podcast host who raised a $400 million fund this year, and Garry Tan, who co-founded Initialized Capital and grew it to $3 billion in assets before becoming YC’s CEO, as inspirations.

Like these investors, Jarrosson uses social media, YouTube, and podcasting both to build community and to source deals. This content-driven approach also attracts limited partners, many of whom first discover him through his videos or podcasts before seeing a pitch deck, he notes.

As managing partner, he has made over 100 investments through his syndicate and Lobster Capital’s inaugural fund, launched in 2023, backing nearly 30 startups in B2B SaaS, fintech infrastructure, and AI solutions.

Among his investments, he counts two unicorns and several companies on the verge of unicorn status, such as Jeeves, Baubap, Flutterflow, Metriport, Alinea, and Jiga.

“YC’s track record speaks for itself. It’s been around for over two decades, consistently backing and developing top founders,” Jarrosson said. “The results may be even stronger in the future, but even if they remain the same, it’s still a very solid bet.”

Focusing exclusively on YC-backed startups isn’t entirely novel. Other venture firms, including Initialized, Pioneer Fund, Phosphor Capital, and Rebel Fund, have also adopted this approach.

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Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.

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