Fundraising Fox
🦊/Companies
Sign in

Refresh

YC X25

San Francisco, US · Founded 2025 · 8 employees · 1 known investors

Find your way into Refresh

1,227 people in our graph share verified history with the Refresh team — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

Dan Bartusunlockedknows Christopher Settles · together at Bank of America Merrill Lynch (overlapped)
knows the team · via Bank of America Merrill Lynch
knows the team · via Uber
×6knows the team · via Y Combinator
knows the team · via Stealth
knows the team · via Refresh

Refresh builds simulation environments and evaluation benchmarks for frontier AI labs to measure and improve model capabilities. The company focuses on creating realistic, production-grade testing environments that accurately assess AI system performance.

Also known as JupyPilot · Operative · operative.sh · Operative.sh

AI & Machine LearningDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareUnited States of AmericaAmerica / Canada

Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (X25)

Refresh was founded in 2025 by Christopher Settles and Erik Quintanilla.

CSChristopher Settles
Christopher Settlesin𝕏Co-Founder, CEOHe previously worked on machine learning at Uber AI and studied computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
EQErik Quintanilla
Erik Quintanillain𝕏Co-Founder & CTOErik Quintanilla is co-founder and CTO of Refresh, with prior experience as an engineer at Capital One and Amazon, along with work at AI voice startups focused on data and scraping. He has a background in computer vision research.

Investors · 1

Y CombinatorSan Francisco · $500K

Images

Refresh photo

Founder mafia

4 people who came through Refresh went on to found or lead other companies.

Warren LebovicsDesignerFounded PequityVikram PatelInternship TraineeFounded DocVitaNanda GuntupalliInternFounded TaigaAdam WaxSoftware EngineerFounded Taiga

Competitors · 1

by search overlap
Nintendo4 shared keywordsNintendo is a video game and entertainment company that develops and distributes gaming consoles, handheld systems, and games featuring iconic characters and franchises. The company serves consumers globally through a variety of gaming hardware platforms and entertainment media.

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

In the news

Equity-Refresh Grants: A Primer for Series A Founders - Battery Venturesbattery.com · Jan 2026When a Startup Must Refresh Its 409A Valuation | by 409 AI | Mediummedium.com · Nov 2025Refresh - RL Training Gymsycombinator.com · May 2025Borrowell raises $25-million funding round, closes Refresh acquisition - The Logicthelogic.co · Feb 2021Borrowell Raises $25 Million in New Funding and Completes Acquisition of Refresh Financialglobenewswire.com · Feb 2021

Frequently asked questions

What does Refresh do?
Refresh builds simulation environments and evaluation benchmarks for frontier AI labs to measure and improve model capabilities. The company focuses on creating realistic, production-grade testing environments that accurately assess AI system performance.
Who founded Refresh?
Refresh was founded by Christopher Settles, Erik Quintanilla in 2025.
Who are Refresh's investors?
Refresh's investors include Y Combinator.
Where is Refresh headquartered?
Refresh is headquartered in San Francisco, US.