/Companies

Explo

YC W20

New York City, US · Founded 2019 · 24 employees · 19 known investors

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Explo provides embedded analytics software that allows companies to add customizable dashboards, reports, and data-sharing capabilities into their own products. The platform serves SaaS companies and enterprise applications that want to enable end users to explore and share data.

Also known as Kaz Inc. · A La Carte · A La Carte, Roco Recipes, Kaz, Sphere · Kaz · Roco Recipes · Sphere

AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureEnterprise SoftwareSaaSAnalyticsUnited States of AmericaAmerica / CanadaPartly Remote

Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (W20)

Explo was founded in 2019 by Andrew Chen and Gary Lin.

ACAndrew Chen
Andrew ChenCo-Founder2019–2025Founder of Explo, which provides embedded analytics software enabling SaaS companies and enterprise applications to offer customizable dashboards and data-sharing capabilities to end users.
GLGary Lin
Gary LinFounderFounder at Airwork
BBBrian Bakerman
Brian BakermanCustomer Engagement Lead (YC W20)2022–2024Founder at Pippin / Rent the Backyard
CS
Carly StanisicProduct Designer
AV
Anuj VarmaSoftware Engineer
JHJonah Hanig
Jonah HanigCo-Founder2019–2020Founder at Rove Travel
RV
Rohan VarmaFounderformer
TT
Tyler TurimRecruiterformer
AT
Andrew TackHead of Salesformer
JG
Jordan GreissmanFounding Engineerformer
CS
Caroline SnappRecruiterformer

Investors · 19

Amplo VenturesreportedHouston

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

Craft VenturesreportedSan Francisco · $50K – $50M

How we know: a partner's Signal profile · funding news · techcrunch.com · open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

Crystal Towers CapitalreportedMountain View

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

Felicis VenturesreportedSan Francisco · $500K – $15M

How we know: funding news · techcrunch.com · Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us

FlexportreportedSan Francisco

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

OV (CDY)reportedBoston

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

Sarona VenturesreportedTel Aviv

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

UncommonreportedToronto

How we know: the VCSheet dataset · Not right? Tell us

Venture Investment AssociatesreportedPeapack

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

Yintai Investment Companyreported

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

Also in the syndicate · 1

Amplo VC

Funding

SEC filings, press & company announcements

$12M disclosed across 1 of 3 rounds · 2020–2022

Source: company announcements and press reports — follow each round's link for the claim.

Company profile

researched Aug 2026

Explo is an embedded analytics company whose platform lets software providers add customer-facing dashboards, reporting and data-sharing features into their own applications. Its products include white-labeled Dashboards (including editable dashboards that end users can modify within guardrails set by the vendor), a Report Builder providing self-service analytics where users create their own tables and charts, Explo AI (an AI/CoPilot experience where end users generate reports, visualizations and insights from natural-language prompts), Host (white-labeled dashboard portals), Email (cadenced and one-off analytics emails), and Data Share (custom, scheduled data exports delivered to each customer).

Implementation follows four steps: connecting an existing relational database or warehouse directly without replicating data or building new data models, building interfaces from components such as tables, charts, KPIs, filters, switches and share buttons in a low-code environment, styling those components (fonts, borders, shadows) to match the host application, and embedding or distributing the output via embeds, email, share links or white-labeled portals. The company positions the platform as covering both startups and enterprise organizations, citing SOC 2 Type 2 compliance, HIPAA certification, dedicated hosting and region-specific stacks. Explo also offers a free tier for internal business intelligence with unlimited users and usage.

Explo was founded in 2019, participated in Y Combinator's Winter 2020 batch (primary partner Gustaf Alstromer) and is based in New York City. In October 2025, Omni announced the acquisition of Explo, under which Explo became a wholly owned subsidiary while its platform continued to operate for a 12-month transition period.

Business model

Explo sells its embedded analytics platform to software companies that integrate it into their own products, with a free tier offered for internal BI use featuring unlimited users and usage. The site directs prospects to self-serve sign-up, trial requests and demos.

Sources indicate a software subscription approach with a free tier for internal BI; specific pricing terms are not stated in the available sources.

Traction

Y Combinator lists Explo with a team size of 24 and active status. The company states it powers analytics for organizations ranging from YC startups to Fortune 500 companies. No revenue or customer-count figures are disclosed in the sources.

Latest developments

On October 22, 2025, Omni announced the acquisition of Explo. Omni's CEO and co-founder Colin Zima described Explo as having built a product customers love in a crowded market; Explo CEO and co-founder Gary Lin said Omni was the right long-term home for Explo. Explo operates as a wholly owned subsidiary, with its platform continuing to run for 12 months while customers migrate. Explo's website carries an "Explo is joining Omni!" notice.

▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies

Market position

Explo competed in what the acquirer described as a crowded embedded analytics market, serving customers ranging from Y Combinator startups to Fortune 500 companies. Its acquirer, Omni, positions a unified platform covering both internal and customer-facing analytics with a built-in semantic layer.

Explo emphasizes rapid deployment (days rather than quarters of in-house development), extensive white-label styling so components match the host application, end-user customizability within vendor-defined guardrails, an embedded AI report builder, and a dedicated support team.

Technology

The platform connects directly to relational databases and data warehouses without data replication or new data modeling, and provides low-code dashboard and report components, a style configurator for white-labeling, embedding options, email delivery, share links and data exports. Explo AI supports prompt-based report generation, visualization creation and conversational querying of data. Security and infrastructure claims include SOC 2 Type 2 compliance, HIPAA certification, dedicated hosting and region-specific stacks.

Go-to-market

Explo targets product teams and developers, supported by self-serve onboarding released in 2022, free internal-BI usage, demo bookings and direct founder contact. It emphasizes a dedicated support team for implementation and ongoing partnership, and cites customers ranging from Y Combinator startups to Fortune 500 companies.

Product teams and developers at SaaS platforms and applications across e-commerce, ed-tech, healthcare, transportation and logistics, CRM and fintech; company sizes range from startups to Fortune 500 enterprises.

Geography

Headquartered in New York City, New York. Explo offers region-specific stacks and dedicated hosting for deployments.

History

Founded in 2019 by Andrew Chen and Gary Lin, Explo went through Y Combinator's Winter 2020 batch. It announced a $12M Series A on August 16, 2022, alongside the release of self-serve onboarding, and later added an AI report builder. On October 22, 2025, Omni announced its acquisition of Explo, making it a wholly owned subsidiary; Explo's founders and team were to support customer migrations to Omni over the following 12 months.

Risks & controversies

Explo's standalone platform is slated to operate only for a 12-month period following the Omni acquisition, after which customers are expected to migrate to Omni.

Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.

Key figures

latest reported
HeadcountAug 202612
Team sizeJan 202524 employees
Y combinator batchJan 2020Winter 2020

Company-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.

Founder mafia

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

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Companies working in the same space as Explo.

Timeline · 3

launches, deals, and filings
Oct 2025
Omni acquires Explo

Omni, a business intelligence and embedded analytics platform with a built-in semantic layer, announced the acquisition of Explo. Explo becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Omni; the Explo platform continues to operate for 12 months while founders Andrew Chen and Gary Lin and team support customer migrations to Omni.

source ↗

Jan 2025
Explo AI report builder

Explo launched an AI report builder that lets end users converse with the application to create custom reports and generate insights.

source ↗

Aug 2022
Explo raises $12M Series A

Explo announced a $12M Series A to build customer-facing analytics and released self-serve onboarding; coverage included TechCrunch reporting that the BI dashboard service was gaining traction.

$12M source ↗

Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.

Legal entities · 1

corporate structure
Kaz Inc.

In the news

▸Research sources · 8

primary sources listed

8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.

Frequently asked questions

What does Explo do?
Explo is an embedded analytics platform for customer-facing dashboards, AI reports and data sharing; acquired by Omni in 2025.
Who founded Explo?
Explo was founded by Andrew Chen, Gary Lin in 2019.
Who are Explo's investors?
Explo's investors include Soma Capital, South Quad, VentureSouq, XG Ventures, Y Combinator, Allison Pickens Ventures, Amplo Ventures, Browder Capital and 10 more.
How much funding has Explo raised?
Explo has disclosed $12M raised across 1 of its 3 known rounds.
Where is Explo headquartered?
Explo is headquartered in New York City, US.