Lantern AI

Active · Turn Your Taste Into Hires

YC F26

Website YC profile

Why it ranks

How the rank works

8signal of 100 · rising 8

went through YCProgram · this site+4
team of 4Team size · YC's directory+3.6

A sum of public facts, not a judgement and not investment advice.

Competitors

Peoplebox.aiShared: recruiting, hr tech, hireYC S22BengaluruStartup →Other

HatchwaysShared: talent acquisition, recruiting, hr techYC S19TorontoStartup →OtherInactive

StrongIntroShared: talent acquisition, recruiting, turnYC W16San FranciscoStartup →AI

IXS FinanceShared: agent plug500 Global 2016SingaporeStartup →

Companies closest to Lantern AI
Company	Category	Status	Program
Peoplebox.aiShared: recruiting, hr tech, hireYC S22ActiveAI	AI	Active	YCS22
HatchwaysShared: talent acquisition, recruiting, hr techYC S19ActiveOther	Other	Active	YCS19
StrongIntroShared: talent acquisition, recruiting, turnYC W16InactiveOther	Other	Inactive	YCW16
IXS FinanceShared: agent plug500 Global 2016Not statedAI	AI	Not stated	500 Global2016

Adjacent

BoltoShared: recruiting, hr tech, human resourcesYC S23San FranciscoStartup →Other

FloShared: talent acquisition, hr techYC S19AustinStartup →AI

HireboltShared: recruiting, hr tech, talentYC S21LondonStartup →Other

Advantage ClubShared: human resources, hr tech, arrYC S21GurugramStartup →Other

CompUpShared: human resources, hr tech, graphYC S22BengaluruStartup →

Companies next to Lantern AI
Company	Category	Status	Program
BoltoShared: recruiting, hr tech, human resourcesYC S23ActiveAI	AI	Active	YCS23
FloShared: talent acquisition, hr techYC S19ActiveOther	Other	Active	YCS19
HireboltShared: recruiting, hr tech, talentYC S21ActiveAI	AI	Active	YCS21
Advantage ClubShared: human resources, hr tech, arrYC S21ActiveOther	Other	Active	YCS21
CompUpShared: human resources, hr tech, graphYC S22ActiveOther	Other	Active	YCS22

Also from F26 in AI

All of F26

SpineWe run benefits, payroll & compliance for startups, for freeYC F26San FranciscoStartup →AI

0.securityThe autonomous cybersecurity teamYC F26San FranciscoStartup →AI

Acyclic LabsAgent swarms that make long-running tasks exponentially fasterYC F26LondonStartup →AI

Adalat AIAI OS transforming courts, accelerating justiceYC F26BengaluruStartup →AI

Adside.aiAI agency that manages paid ads on Meta, Google, LinkedIn, etc.YC F26San FranciscoStartup →AI

Agent 37Cloud Sandbox for AgentsYC F26New York CityStartup →

Company	Category	Status
SpineWe run benefits, payroll & compliance for startups, for freehiringActiveAI	AI	Active
0.securityThe autonomous cybersecurity teamteam of 2ActiveAI, Devtools	AI, Devtools	Active
Acyclic LabsAgent swarms that make long-running tasks exponentially fasterteam of 2ActiveAI, Devtools	AI, Devtools	Active
Adalat AIAI OS transforming courts, accelerating justiceteam of 80hiringActiveAI	AI	Active
Adside.aiAI agency that manages paid ads on Meta, Google, LinkedIn, etc.team of 2ActiveAI	AI	Active
Agent 37Cloud Sandbox for AgentsActiveAI, Devtools	AI, Devtools	Active

Founders

Thomas ChanFounder/CEO
Justin TangFounder/CTO

About Lantern AI

Lantern is the agentic recruiting platform for enterprise. Lantern runs on: (1) World People Model, a live talent graph of a billion professionals that knows who’s exceptional, reachable, and about to move (2) Company Hiring Model, which learns your taste from every hiring decision you’ve ever made Together, our agents plug into your existing systems and run the whole workflow: sourcing, application review, AI interviews, meeting intelligence, and analytics, under universal context. Lantern also launched OpenRouter for People (people.lantern.md), an agent-native infrastructure to empower agents to find, research, outreach to anyone in the world.

YC batch: F26 · Fall 2026
Status, per YC: Active
Category: AI
Team size: 4
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Founded: 2025
Checked: 6h ago

YC tags: Human Resources, Recruiting, HR Tech, Talent Acquisition, AI

Changes seen

Website linkOct 22, 2026

Website link changed from https://www.lantern.md to https://lantern.md.

Source ↗

TagsOct 19, 2026

Newly tagged AI; no longer tagged Artificial Intelligence.

Source ↗

Lantern AI in F26: 219 companies, 89% AI

Lantern AI: questions

Which YC batch was Lantern AI in?

Lantern AI was in Y Combinator's Fall 2026 batch (F26).

Is Lantern AI still active?

Y Combinator lists Lantern AI as active.

Who founded Lantern AI?

Lantern AI's founders, as listed on its YC page: Thomas Chan (Founder/CEO), Justin Tang (Founder/CTO).

Where is Lantern AI based?

Lantern AI lists San Francisco, CA, USA as its location on YC's directory.