Central was founded by Josh Wymer, Pranav Kashyap, Nilay Modi in 2023.

Who are Central's investors?

Central's investors include Alumni Ventures, Ritual Capital, SurgePoint Angel, Y Combinator, Amino Capital, Capitalize VC, First Round Capital, OurCrowd.

Where is Central headquartered?

Central is headquartered in San Francisco, US.

Central

AcquiredYC S24

San Francisco, US · Founded 2023 · 15 employees · 8 known investors

Find your way into Central

Paths you didn't know you had: your email and LinkedIn already hold routes to the Central team. We find them for you
2nd- and 3rd-degree connections: the friend-of-a-friend routes that take hours to manually find through your inbox or LinkedIn
Answers now, not in days: momentum is everything in a raise. Skip asking around whether someone knows someone

Days of research, done the moment you sign in, with every route ranked by how warm it is.

Central provides a platform with security features including multi-factor authentication and fraud monitoring for user accounts and financial transactions.

Also known as Central Business Applications Inc

AI & Machine Learning Enterprise Software Fintech HR Tech SaaS B2B Payroll AIUnited States of AmericaAmerica / CanadaPartly Remote

Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (S24)

Central was founded in 2023 by Josh Wymer, Pranav Kashyap, and Nilay Modi.

Josh Wymer Co-founder & CEO2023–2026Josh Wymer served as a software engineer at Meta and held a product engineering role at Mixpanel during its early growth stage. He is a Virginia Tech baseball player and currently leads Central as CEO.

Pranav Kashyap Co-FounderHe previously developed payment and tax products at Stripe, led product work on self-serve and messaging platforms at Mixpanel, and consulted for technology companies at McKinsey and Sequoia Capital. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from IIT Bombay and an MBA from Wharton.

Nilay Modi Co-Founder (Acquired by Mercury)2023–2026Founder of Central, a platform providing security features including multi-factor authentication and fraud monitoring for user accounts and financial transactions.

Abhijeet Dwivedi Founder and CEO2022–2024Founder at ZeroDown

Investors · 8

Alumni Ventureslisted by Alumni VenturesManchester · $100K – $10M

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · av.vc · open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Not right? Tell us

Ritual Capitallisted by Ritual CapitalMenlo Park · $100K – $500Kvia Chris Howard · inferred

How we know: open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Not right? Tell us

SurgePoint Angellisted by SurgePoint AngelNew York

Y Combinatorlisted by Y CombinatorSan Francisco · $500K

How we know: the Y Combinator directory · centralhq.com · open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Not right? Tell us

Amino CapitalreportedPalo Alto · $100K – $10M

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Capitalize VCreportedChicago · $100K – $200K

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

First Round CapitalreportedSan Francisco · $100K – $20M

How we know: a partner's Signal profile · centralhq.com · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

OurCrowdreportedJerusalem

How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Founder mafia

3 people who came through Central went on to found or lead other companies.

Boateng Opoku-YeboahSoftware EngineerFounded Fuse +1 Abhijeet DwivediAdvisorFounded ZeroDown Nilay ModiFounderFounded Clayboard

Related companies · 8

DeelDeel is a global HR platform that enables businesses to hire, onboard, and manage employees and contractors across borders. The platform handles payroll, compliance, and HR administration for companies managing international workforces.

Employee NavigatorEmployee Navigator provides a benefits administration, HR management, and compliance platform used by employers and insurance brokers to manage employee benefits, ACA reporting, payroll integrations, onboarding, and time-off tracking. The platform connects employers, brokers, and industry partners through 600+ integrations.

WarpWarp is a software platform that automates operational tasks including payroll, tax compliance, and administrative work for fast-growing companies. The platform uses AI to handle complexity in jurisdictional and compliance challenges that traditionally required manual processing.

RingCentralRingCentral provides cloud-based unified communications and AI-powered contact center solutions for businesses, serving over 600,000 customers worldwide. The platform integrates voice, video, messaging, and conversation intelligence to enable secure, efficient enterprise communications.

malibouMalibou provides an HR and payroll management platform for small and medium businesses, combining digital tools for employee management (contracts, absences, leave, interviews, documents) with dedicated expert payroll support.

CheckCheck provides payroll infrastructure via an API and Partner Console that other companies embed to run payroll operations. As a licensed money transmitter across all 50 U.S. states and DC, it handles money movement, data security, and compliance on behalf of its partners.

CercliCercli is an AI-powered payroll and compliance platform designed for multi-entity, multi-country teams. It processes payroll, automates manual work, and provides 24/7 support for global workforce management.

HammrHammr provides payroll, HR, and operations software purpose-built for construction contractors and specialty firms managing government and commercial projects. The platform consolidates prevailing wage, certified payroll, and administrative functions to reduce manual work.

Companies working in the same space as Central.

Legal entities · 1

corporate structure

Central Business Applications Inc

In the news

Central raises $8.6M from First Round Capital & YCcentralhq.com · Oct 2025

Central – Accounting, Taxes & R&D Tax Credits + Payroll, Benefits & State Complianceycombinator.com · Sep 2025

Central: Payroll + benefits for startups. Save weeks of work & fines.ycombinator.com · Jul 2024

Frequently asked questions

What does Central do?: Central provides a platform with security features including multi-factor authentication and fraud monitoring for user accounts and financial transactions.
Who founded Central?: Central was founded by Josh Wymer, Pranav Kashyap, Nilay Modi in 2023.
Who are Central's investors?: Central's investors include Alumni Ventures, Ritual Capital, SurgePoint Angel, Y Combinator, Amino Capital, Capitalize VC, First Round Capital, OurCrowd.
Where is Central headquartered?: Central is headquartered in San Francisco, US.