Who founded Instance?

Instance was founded by Claire Mao, Lucy Cai in 2026.

Who are Instance's investors?

Instance's investors include Union Square Ventures (USV), Y Combinator, Lyra Capital Pty Ltd, Multifaceted Capital.

Where is Instance headquartered?

Instance is headquartered in San Francisco, US.

Instance

YC S26

San Francisco, US · Founded 2026 · 2 employees · 4 known investors

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Instance Labs provides verification software that evaluates whether robots have successfully completed assigned tasks from camera footage. The platform helps robotics companies validate training data and accelerate policy development by analyzing raw video episodes and returning success verdicts with evidence.

Also known as Instance AI, Inc. · Instance

Advanced Manufacturing AI & Machine Learning Enterprise Software Robotics AIUnited States of AmericaAmerica / Canada

Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (S26)

Instance was founded in 2026 by Claire Mao and Lucy Cai.

Claire Mao Cofounder & CEOClaire Mao studied mathematics and computer science at MIT and has worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Boston Consulting Group, and MIT Media Lab.

Lucy Cai Co-FounderLucy Cai studied computer science and AI at MIT and conducted robotics research at MIT's LIS Lab. Previously, she held roles at SpaceX and Amazon Web Services.

Investors · 4

Union Square Ventures (USV)listed by Union Square Ventures (USV)New York · $1M – $8M

How we know: Union Square Ventures (USV)'s portfolio page · Not right? Tell us

Y Combinatorlisted by Y CombinatorSan Francisco · $500K

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

Lyra Capital Pty LtdreportedSydney

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

Multifaceted CapitalreportedSeattle

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

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Related companies · 5

HABITHabitrobotics develops conversational robots for deployment across the United States. The company is currently in private beta with general availability coming soon.

TopologicalTopological develops physics-based foundation models for CAD optimization to help hardware engineering teams accelerate their design and optimization workflows. The platform generates efficient designs for complex mechanical problems by understanding physics, geometry, and manufacturability constraints.

EncordEncord provides a data platform for developing and deploying multimodal AI systems, serving AI development teams at scale across training and production environments.

HubHub operates a data collection and annotation platform that gathers real-world data from physical environments to train embodied AI and robotics models. The company manages a global network of verified small and medium-sized businesses across multiple sectors to capture training data through a standardized pipeline.

SureformA data collection company that gathers high-quality human data across diverse interactions and environments to support development of multimodal and embodied AI systems.

Companies working in the same space as Instance.

Legal entities · 1

corporate structure

Instance AI, Inc.

In the news

Instance: Automated evaluation for robot policies, starting with the success detectorycombinator.com · Jul 2026

Frequently asked questions

What does Instance do?: Instance Labs provides verification software that evaluates whether robots have successfully completed assigned tasks from camera footage. The platform helps robotics companies validate training data and accelerate policy development by analyzing raw video episodes and returning success verdicts with evidence.
Who founded Instance?: Instance was founded by Claire Mao, Lucy Cai in 2026.
Who are Instance's investors?: Instance's investors include Union Square Ventures (USV), Y Combinator, Lyra Capital Pty Ltd, Multifaceted Capital.
Where is Instance headquartered?: Instance is headquartered in San Francisco, US.