From YouTube to $12M VC Fund: How This French Investor Built His Empire Backing Only Y Combinator Startups

Venture capital is filled with investors who claim they’ve got inside access to the next big thing. Meanwhile, Gabriel Jarrosson, a French engineer-turned-YouTuber-turned-investor, has built his VC firm around a single filter: If it isn’t a Y Combinator company, he won’t invest in it.

That discipline pushed Jarrosson from filming scrappy venture explainers in Paris to managing more than $12 million in assets at Lobster Capital, with a larger second fund already in the works, according to recent SEC filings. His logic is simple: He believes YC’s track record of producing billion-dollar companies beats chasing startups elsewhere.

In 2017, frustrated by the lack of access to promising French startups, Jarrosson launched a YouTube channel to share his investment journey in French.

The channel grew a loyal following and evolved into one of Europe’s largest angel syndicates. Since 2020, it has deployed $36 million into startups, mostly YC alumni. That track record paved the way for Lobster Capital, which closed its debut fund at $12 million, surpassing its $8 million target.

Jarrosson’s reasoning on backing only YC startups rests on probability. According to reports, roughly 4.5% of YC companies become unicorns (in contrast to the 2.5% outcome for other venture-backed seed-stage startups), and around 45% of companies go on to raise a Series A (higher than the 33% average).

Similarly, YC has funded more than 90 unicorns, with roughly a quarter of those growing into decacorns.

That’s why the premium for YC deals, where valuations often run multiples higher than non-YC peers at the seed stage, doesn’t deter Jarrosson.

“If you think about the VC math and the returns, these outcomes are obviously great for your portfolio. As investors, you have to ask yourself, can this company become the next unicorn?” said the founder and managing partner in an interview with TechCrunch.

“If the answer is yes, it’s often okay to invest even at a slightly higher valuation. Maybe it’s a $20 million seed or $30 million, or even $40 million. Some will pass and that’s fine. But I choose to invest.”

Riding the AI wave and content as a moat

Lobster Capital, like most early-stage investors, has ridden the surge of AI-first startups dominating recent YC batches. Jarrosson points out that three cohorts in a row have shattered revenue growth records within the accelerator, with companies reaching millions in ARR within months.

There are reports that some of that ARR traction globally looks fragile, inflated by pilots or churn-heavy annual contracts. While Jarrosson admits the risk, he insists that early revenue remains the hardest hurdle, and for most of these startups, retention can be fixed.

But more broadly, the biggest question around Jarrosson’s thesis is access, as YC Demo Days draw hundreds of funds chasing the same companies.

Jarrosson credits his edge to reputation inside YC’s network, visibility from his content, and his own founder background. YC founders rate investors on Bookface, the accelerator’s internal platform, and Jarrosson claims strong reviews help him land allocations.

Similarly, his podcast featuring YC founders and 40,000+ LinkedIn followers, where he shares his investment journey and nuggets on anything YC, also serves as ongoing marketing.

“I try to do well by founders. People also hear about the firm from social media, and as a former founder, they know I can help them because many funds are built by people who have not been operators before,” said Jarrosson, who in the past launched several startups and had some exits, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Jarrosson is part of a growing list of investors building funds on the back of personal brands. He cites Harry Stebbings, the 20VC podcaster who raised a $400 million fund this year, and Garry Tan, who co-founded Initialized Capital and grew it to $3 billion in AUM before becoming YC’s CEO, as inspirations.

Like both investors, Jarrosson treats social media, YouTube, and podcasting as community tools and deal engines. That content strategy also helps pull in limited partners who often discover him through videos or podcasts before seeing a fund deck, he adds.

The managing partner has made more than 100 investments through his syndicate and Lobster Capital’s first fund, launched in 2023, which has backed nearly 30 startups in B2B SaaS, fintech infrastructure, and AI tools.

He counts two unicorns and several “soonicorns” across the syndicate and the fund, including Jeeves, Baubap, FlutterFlow, Metriport, Alinea, and Jiga.

“YC has the track record. It’s been around for more than 20 years now. We know it backs the best founders and creates the best founders,” Jarrosson said. “Arguably, the results of YC in the future are probably going to be even better. But even if they stay what they are, we know it’s a very good bet.”

Investing solely in YC-backed companies isn’t an entirely new concept. Other VC firms, including Initialized, Pioneer Fund, Phosphor Capital, and Rebel Fund, also started with the same strategy.