Palus Finance
YC W26 · Active · Your startup's financial advisor
Competitors
| Company | Category | Status | Program |
|---|---|---|---|
 ThymeShared: financial advisor, there, taskAcquiredAI | AI | Acquired | YCS24 |
 Autonomous Technologies GroupShared: financial advisor, wrong, theseActiveAI | AI | Active | YCF25 |
 FINNY AIShared: financial advisorActiveAI | AI | Active | YCS24 |
 FocalShared: financial advisor, after, taskNot statedAI | AI | Not stated | Plug and Play |
Adjacent
| Company | Category | Status | Program |
|---|---|---|---|
 Between Two FernsShared: financial advisorNot statedOther | Other | Not stated | 500 Global2012 |
 PathShared: financial advisorInactiveOther | Other | Inactive | YCS19 |
 SmartAssetShared: financial advisor, decisionActiveOther | Other | Active | YCS12 |
 OpenwealthShared: financial advisorNot statedOther | Other | Not stated | Antler2025 |
 SyntheticFiShared: financial advisorActiveOther | Other | Active | YCS23 |
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 10x ScienceThe AI-native platform for next-generation protein characterization.ActiveAI | AI | Active |
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 AemonThe Forward-Deployed AI Research EngineerActiveAI, Devtools | AI, Devtools | Active |
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 Alt-XBuilding the best venue for private markets exposure.ActiveAI, Data | AI, Data | Active |
Founders
- Sam LushtakFounder/CEO
- Michael GonzalezFounder/CTO
About Palus Finance
After a fundraise, you want to focus 100% on scaling your company, but suddenly there's a mountain of finance and ops decisions you need to figure out. Though these tasks feel like distractions, making the wrong decisions here can literally kill your company. Palus is your startup's financial advisor. We help you with the decisions that come with scaling: where to store your cash, how to think about runway, and how to optimize your company’s finance/ops setup. Palus will save you dozens of hours on operations work, help you avoid making financial mistakes, and our cash management service can earn you $100s of thousands in extra yield on your fundraise without switching banks or taking on unnecessary risk. And you can reach us 24/7 via Slack. What makes us an advisor and not another bank or finance tool is that we're an actual fiduciary, not a product with a salesperson attached. Mercury, Rho, and Brex can't legally give you financial advice; they hand you a dashboard and leave the decisions to you. Palus signs an advisory contract with you, giving us a legal fiduciary duty to act in your company’s best interest. This lets us give you actionable financial advice and optimize your cash to best suit your goals and company’s needs. Sam and Michael are technical cofounders who met at Caltech. Sam previously built the AI research platform for a $3T AUM asset manager; Michael built quantum computers for the defense industry.
- YC batch
- W26 · Winter 2026
- Status, per YC
- Active
- Category
- AI
- Team size
- 2
- Checked
- 35m ago
Palus Finance: questions
Which YC batch was Palus Finance in?
Palus Finance was in Y Combinator's Winter 2026 batch (W26).
Is Palus Finance still active?
Y Combinator lists Palus Finance as active.
Who founded Palus Finance?
Palus Finance's founders, as listed on its YC page: Sam Lushtak (Founder/CEO), Michael Gonzalez (Founder/CTO).
Sources: each program's public company list, read twice a week. Not affiliated with Y Combinator or any other program. Logos via logo.dev; trademarks belong to their owners.