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Orchid
YC X25San Francisco, US · Founded 2025 · 3 employees · 7 known investors
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Orchid is a personal assistant that operates via text messaging to help users with organization, information retrieval, and task completion. It integrates with users' existing tools and apps to automate habits, manage administrative tasks, and track personal details.
Also known as Zero Email, Inc. · Mail0 · Mail0, Zero · Zero · Orchid AI
Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (X25)
Orchid was founded in 2025 by Nizar Abi Zaher and Adam Wazzan.
Investors · 7
How we know: Hartmann Capital's portfolio page · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · pioneerfund.vc · Not right? Tell us
How we know: the Y Combinator directory · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us
How we know: funding news · Not right? Tell us
How we know: Y Combinator's founder network · Not right? Tell us
How we know: funding news · Not right? Tell us
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Orchid develops an AI-based personal executive assistant that operates inside iMessage. The assistant texts the user a summary of their day each morning, drafts replies on their behalf and books meetings, with the user approving actions before they are carried out.
The company also built Zero, an open source AI-native email client. Zero prioritizes incoming email to surface the most important messages, summarizes long threads, drafts and sends replies, organizes the inbox into smart categories and allows users to interact with their mailbox through natural-language conversation, including understanding projects and planning the day. Orchid positions Zero as an email platform designed around AI from the ground up rather than as AI features added to a conventional client, and cites full transparency through its open source code base. Zero's public beta is hosted at 0.email.
Founding story
Orchid was founded in 2025 by Nizar Abi Zaher and Adam Wazzan, who serves as CTO.
Business model
Orchid offers an AI assistant product delivered directly to end users through existing messaging and email channels rather than as a separate workspace application; a companion email client, Zero, is distributed as open source software with a publicly available beta.
Traction
Orchid reported a team size of three and active status in Y Combinator's Spring 2025 company listing, and had released Zero's public beta at 0.email.
Latest developments
Orchid launched the public beta of Zero, its open source AI-native email client, and was listed as an active company in Y Combinator's Spring 2025 batch with a three-person team.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Orchid is an early-stage company in the AI assistant and AI-native email software segment, operating as a Y Combinator Spring 2025 batch participant.
Orchid contrasts its approach with traditional email clients, which it characterizes as passive and reliant on manual thread, task and follow-up management, and with AI email tools it describes as bolt-on features lacking full inbox context. Its stated differentiators are an AI-native architecture built around inbox and workflow context, real-time summaries and smart organization, conversational interaction with email, delivery inside existing channels such as iMessage, and a fully open source code base.
Technology
The products apply large language model-based AI to email and messaging data to prioritize messages, summarize threads, draft and send replies, categorize inboxes, interpret projects and plan the user's day, with an approval step before actions are executed. Zero's implementation is released as open source.
Go-to-market
The company reaches users directly through consumer messaging and email surfaces, distributing Zero as an open source product with a self-service public beta and inviting prospective users and interested parties to contact the founders directly.
Individual professionals seeking assistant-style support for scheduling, correspondence and daily planning, including users who would otherwise want a dedicated executive assistant.
Geography
Orchid is based in San Francisco, California.
History
The company was founded in 2025 by Nizar Abi Zaher and Adam Wazzan and took part in Y Combinator's Spring 2025 batch, with Pete Koomen as its primary partner. As of that listing it was based in San Francisco with a team of three and had launched Zero, an AI-native email client, into public beta.
Compiled by commissioned research from 5 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Founder mafia
2 people who came through Orchid went on to found or lead other companies.
Related companies · 8
Companies working in the same space as Orchid.
Timeline · 2
launches, deals, and filingsOrchid participated in Y Combinator's Spring 2025 batch, with Pete Koomen as primary partner; the company was founded in 2025 and listed with a team size of 3 in San Francisco.
Orchid launched Zero, an open source AI-native email client that prioritizes and summarizes messages, drafts replies, organizes the inbox into categories and supports conversational interaction with email. A public beta was made available at 0.email.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
Legal entities · 1
corporate structureIn the news
▸Research sources · 5
primary sources listed
- Orchid raises $36 million Seed round to automate enterprise identity security with AI | Ctechcalcalistech.com · web
5 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Orchid do?
- Orchid builds an AI personal executive assistant in iMessage and Zero, an open source AI-native email client.
- Who founded Orchid?
- Orchid was founded by Nizar Abi Zaher, Adam Wazzan in 2025.
- Who are Orchid's investors?
- Orchid's investors include Hartmann Capital, Pioneer, Y Combinator, 1984 Ventures Management, Llc, Day One Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Refactor Capital.
- Where is Orchid headquartered?
- Orchid is headquartered in San Francisco, US.