jo was founded by Pradeep Elankumaran, Kevin Li in 2023.

Who are jo's investors?

jo's investors include Afore Capital, Antigravity Capital, Hypothesis, Y Combinator.

Where is jo headquartered?

jo is headquartered in San Francisco, US.

jo

San Francisco, US · Founded 2023 · 2 employees · 4 known investors

Find your way into jo

3,139 people in our graph share verified history with the jo team — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

Arhaan A.unlockedknows Kevin Li · together at Y Combinator (overlapped)

×8knows the team · via Y Combinator

×3knows the team · via Lyft

Jo is a personal AI agent that reads email, calendar, and connected apps to deliver a daily brief with actionable summaries, meeting prep, draft replies, and gentle reminders for work and personal life. It runs on Mac with Apple Silicon and integrates with email, calendar, notes, browsers, chats, Telegram, and WhatsApp.

AI & Machine Learning Consumer Future of Work SaaS AI AssistantUnited States of AmericaAmerica / CanadaFully Remote

Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (X26)

jo was founded in 2023 by Pradeep Elankumaran and Kevin Li.

Pradeep Elankumaran in 𝕏Co-Founder, CEOPradeep Elankumaran has co-founded multiple consumer-focused companies including jo (W24), Farmstead (S16), and Kicksend (S11).

Kevin Li in 𝕏Co-founder · CMOKevin Li is Chief Marketing Officer at jo (YC W24) and previously co-founded Farmstead (YC S16). He has also interned at Kabam.

Investors · 4

Afore CapitalSan Francisco · $500K – $2M

Antigravity CapitalSan Francisco

Hypothesis

Y CombinatorSan Francisco · $500K

The YC application· Spring 2026 batch

Alumni Q&A

What is the core problem you are solving? Why is this a big problem? What made you decide to work on it?: The founders built jo, a personal AI agent that connects context from conversations, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, contacts, messages, browser activity, and the Mac when users enable those sources, then uses it to answer questions, produce daily briefings, surface reminders and follow-ups, and run recurring workflows. Unlike a chatbot, jo retains context over time and can act proactively, but consequential actions such as sending messages, changing calendars, or making purchases require user approval. It is generally available with no waitlist on Mac (Apple Silicon required) and web, with access also through mobile web, Telegram, and WhatsApp; it supports individuals and families, giving each member a separate private instance, memory, cloud machine, and storage, and does not train models on users' raw data.

Summarized from the founders' answers on their Y Combinator profile.

Founder mafia

2 people who came through jo went on to found or lead other companies.

Pradeep ElankumaranFounderFounded Kicksend Kevin LiFounderFounded Farmstead

Competitors · 3

by search overlap

Character.AI4 shared keywordsConsumer generative-AI platform where users create and chat with customizable AI characters via web and mobile apps.

ChatGPT3 shared keywordsChatGPT is an AI assistant that generates text responses, creates images, and processes uploaded files based on user prompts and saved chat history.

Juji3 shared keywordsJuji provides no-code tools for building cognitive and generative AI chatbot agents that automate high-touch human services such as advising, counseling, interviewing, and recruitment. Its platform lets non-technical staff in organizations create and deploy custom conversational AI agents with features like active listening, psychographic insights, and audience analytics.

Companies competing with jo for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.

In the news

jo 1.0 - a personal AI that actually knows youycombinator.com · Mar 2026

jo: Your macOS Productivity Sidekickycombinator.com · Dec 2024

Frequently asked questions

What does jo do?: Jo is a personal AI agent that reads email, calendar, and connected apps to deliver a daily brief with actionable summaries, meeting prep, draft replies, and gentle reminders for work and personal life. It runs on Mac with Apple Silicon and integrates with email, calendar, notes, browsers, chats, Telegram, and WhatsApp.
Who founded jo?: jo was founded by Pradeep Elankumaran, Kevin Li in 2023.
Who are jo's investors?: jo's investors include Afore Capital, Antigravity Capital, Hypothesis, Y Combinator.
Where is jo headquartered?: jo is headquartered in San Francisco, US.