Y Combinator S26
3 days left — April 11
Submit at ycombinator.com/apply ↗
Company tagline
Verifiable product authenticity in 2.1 seconds — blockchain provenance rails for every physical good.
What does it do
AuthiChain mints an ERC-721 NFT on Polygon for each product batch, generates an AI QR code, and confirms AUTHENTIC or COUNTERFEIT in 2.1 seconds via any smartphone camera. No app. No hardware. $0.004/seal vs $0.50+ RFID.
Why now
EU Digital Product Passport mandate 2026 — blockchain provenance legally required for all EU goods. CBP de minimis overhaul — new import authentication requirements. Polygon tx costs at $0.001 — blockchain seals viable at consumer scale. All three hit simultaneously.
Traction
1,023 blockchain certs on Polygon mainnet. Live API on RapidAPI. $47M ACV pipeline — 172 HubSpot deals across LVMH, BMW, Moderna, Hermès. 289+ enterprise emails, 26 batches, 18 sectors. DHS SVIP $800K applied. NFT collection live with 5 pieces ($480–$1,200). Infrastructure $0/month.
Founders
Zachary Kietzman — Sole Founder, Gaylord MI. Built AuthiChain, QRON, and StrainChain solo in 6 months. 41 Cloudflare Workers, 78 Supabase edge functions, 60+ CI/CD commits. Closes enterprise deals while shipping infrastructure simultaneously.
⚠️ One thing still needed
Record 2 minutes at authichain.com/demo-video
Open Loom → Screen + Camera → ▶ Start → voice narrates automatically
Open Demo Video →Open Loom → Screen + Camera → ▶ Start → voice narrates automatically