Donkey was founded by Benjamin Martindale, Minghao Tan, Ben, James, Joe, Elena, James Tan in 2025.

Who are Donkey's investors?

Donkey's investors include Y Combinator, Pioneer, Vela Partners, OurCrowd, Unpopular Ventures.

Where is Donkey headquartered?

Donkey is headquartered in San Francisco, US.

Donkey

YC S26

San Francisco, US · Founded 2025 · 5 employees · 5 known investors

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Donkey is a trading company that sources manufactured goods directly from Asian factories for US importers, handling customs clearance and duty payment. The service quotes products at landed, delivered prices with duty calculated on the factory invoice rather than a middleman's padded markup.

Also known as Prelude OS Inc. · Prelude

AI & Machine Learning B2B Marketplaces Enterprise Software Logistics & Supply Chain Logistics Manufacturing Supply Chain AIUnited States of AmericaAmerica / CanadaPartly Remote

Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (S26)

Benjamin Martindale Co-founder & Chief Executive OfficerBenjamin Martindale founded Prelude OS, which served Chinese factory customers and achieved cash-flow positivity, and has advised heavy-equipment manufacturers on international expansion. He previously ran a Toronto-based marketing firm serving construction clients and studied finance at University of Toronto's Rotman Commerce program.

Minghao Tan Co-founder & Chief Technology OfficerMinghao Tan is CTO at Donkey, where he leads data infrastructure including customs records analysis, factory verification, and supply chain software. He has built systems for parsing trade documentation and identifying manufacturers versus intermediaries.

Ben

James

Joe

Elena

James TanFounder

Investors · 5

Y Combinator✓ confirmed by DonkeySan Francisco · $500K

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

Pioneerlisted by PioneerToronto, Ontario

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

Vela Partnerslisted by Vela PartnersSan Francisco · $100K – $500K

OurCrowdreportedJerusalem

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

Related companies · 3

Mandel AIMandel is an AI platform that automates supplier communication and procurement workflows by reading supplier emails, detecting disruptions, and coordinating actions across email, ERP, and document systems for manufacturing and production teams.

MovleyOpsNinja provides quality inspection, auditing, and testing services for e-commerce sellers, primarily those on Amazon. The platform integrates with seller accounts to track product performance, returns, and quality metrics through a global network of inspectors and labs.

SpaceFlow Technologies, Inc.Spaceflow deploys and operates an on-premise enterprise AI stack—open frontier models, a governance gateway, and AI agents—that learns a company's existing systems and automates procurement and supply chain work such as reading supplier emails, comparing quotes, matching invoices to purchase orders, and routing approvals. It targets enterprises with air-gapped or regulated environments, including manufacturers, banks, and defence organizations.

Companies working in the same space as Donkey.

Legal entities · 1

corporate structure

Prelude OS Inc.

Frequently asked questions

What does Donkey do?: Donkey is a trading company that sources manufactured goods directly from Asian factories for US importers, handling customs clearance and duty payment. The service quotes products at landed, delivered prices with duty calculated on the factory invoice rather than a middleman's padded markup.
Who founded Donkey?: Donkey was founded by Benjamin Martindale, Minghao Tan, Ben, James, Joe, Elena, James Tan in 2025.
Who are Donkey's investors?: Donkey's investors include Y Combinator, Pioneer, Vela Partners, OurCrowd, Unpopular Ventures.
Where is Donkey headquartered?: Donkey is headquartered in San Francisco, US.