Papaya
YC F26 · Active · Continuous optimization for AI agents
Competitors
| Company | Category | Status | Program |
|---|---|---|---|
 DecentShared: continuous optimization, aiopsActiveAI | AI | Active | YCF26 |
 MirrorsShared: production trace, aiops, agentActiveAI, Devtools | AI, Devtools | Active | YCF26 |
 Carrot LabsShared: pull request, aiops, quietlyActiveAI | AI | Active | YCW26 |
Adjacent
| Company | Category | Status | Program |
|---|---|---|---|
 PipeshiftShared: aiops, infrastructure, productionActiveAI, Devtools | AI, Devtools | Active | YCS24 |
 NessieShared: trace nobody, nobody read, agentActiveAI | AI | Active | YCF25 |
 Kestrel AIShared: aiops, infrastructure, agentActiveAI, Devtools | AI, Devtools | Active | YCF25 |
 NimbusShared: optimization engine, infrastructure, costInactiveAI, Devtools | AI, Devtools | Inactive | YCW21 |
 AutomorphicShared: aiops, infrastructure, improveActiveAI, Devtools | AI, Devtools | Active | YCS23 |
Also from F26 in AI
All of F26| Company | Category | Status |
|---|---|---|
 BuildboxAgent analytics for real user outcomesActiveAI, Data | AI, Data | Active |
 ByteAskThe AI coding agent for C and C++ActiveAI, Devtools | AI, Devtools | Active |
 CoveraAI-native OS for insurance brokersActiveAI | AI | Active |
 Dreamscale LabsRunning robot brains in the cloudActiveAI, Devtools | AI, Devtools | Active |
 FaradayIndustrial aOS between humans, agents, and robotsActiveAI | AI | Active |
 GrayPassVerify that the expected person is in control before key actions.ActiveAI, Devtools | AI, Devtools | Active |
Founders
- Macy ModyFounder/CEO
- Niyaz PuzhikkunnathFounder/CPO
- Faiz VadakkumpadathFounder
About Papaya
Papaya is the optimization engine for AI agents. Engineers don't have time to continually improve the agents they've shipped — the context bloat, overly chatty subagents, and broken tool calls sit in production traces nobody reads, quietly hurting agent efficiency. With Papaya they connect their agent directly via SDK, get actionable recommendations on how to improve quality, latency, and cost, and the ones they approve are pushed to production as pull requests. Papaya runs 200+ research-backed analyses across context, prompts, prompt caching, subagents, and tool calls. Every recommendation is ranked by impact and comes with the production runs that produced it — typically a 10%+ quality improvement on the first workflow analysis.
- YC batch
- F26 · Fall 2026
- Status, per YC
- Active
- Category
- AI, Developer tools
- Team size
- 3
- Location
- San Francisco, CA, USA
- Founded
- 2026
- Checked
- 34m ago
YC tags: AIOps, B2B, Enterprise Software, Infrastructure, AI
Papaya: questions
Which YC batch was Papaya in?
Papaya was in Y Combinator's Fall 2026 batch (F26).
Is Papaya still active?
Y Combinator lists Papaya as active.
Who founded Papaya?
Papaya's founders, as listed on its YC page: Macy Mody (Founder/CEO), Niyaz Puzhikkunnath (Founder/CPO), Faiz Vadakkumpadath (Founder).
Where is Papaya based?
Papaya lists San Francisco, CA, USA as its location on YC's directory.
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.