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Respan

YC W24

San Francisco, US · Founded 2023 · 23 employees · Hiring · 5 known investors

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Respan provides infrastructure for teams to trace, evaluate, and monitor AI agent workflows in production at scale. The platform helps developers and enterprise teams operate large language model applications reliably through observability and quality improvement tools.

Also known as Keywords AI Inc. · Keywords AI

AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareSaaSAIOpsMonitoringAIUnited States of AmericaAmerica / CanadaPartly Remote

Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (W24)

Respan was founded in 2023 by Andy Li, Raymond Huang, and Hendrix.

ALAndy Li
Andy LiCo-founder · Interim CTOAndy Li previously studied at UIUC and worked in product design at Apple; he is now building Respan, an AI observability and evaluation platform.
RHRaymond Huang
Raymond HuangCo-FounderRaymond Huang is CTO at Respan, a developer platform for agent observability and evaluations.
HHendrix
HendrixHendrix previously worked on hardware design at Apple, including components for AirPods. He is co-founder and CEO of Respan, which provides infrastructure for teams to trace, evaluate, and monitor AI agent workflows in production.
HL
Hendrix LiuFounder
FC
Frank ChenHead of DevRel
HL
Harvey LiEngineer
EJ
Evan Jiang's Associate

Investors · 5

Y Combinatorlisted by Y CombinatorSan Francisco · $500K

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

Gradient VenturesreportedSan Francisco · $100K – $10M

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

Hat-Trick CapitalreportedPalo Alto · $500K – $3M

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

XIAOXIAO FUNDreported

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

Funding

SEC filings, press & company announcements

$10M disclosed across 2 rounds · 2026

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

The YC application· Winter 2024 batch

▶ Application video — watch on YC ↗

Images

Respan photoRespan photo

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Companies working in the same space as Respan.

Legal entities · 1

corporate structure
Keywords AI Inc.

In the news

Announcing our $5M seed round led by Gradient Ventures | Respanrespan.ai · Mar 2026Respan Raises $5M in Fundingfinsmes.com · Mar 2026Keywords AI - Unified DevOps platform to build AI applicationsycombinator.com · Apr 2024

Frequently asked questions

What does Respan do?
Respan provides infrastructure for teams to trace, evaluate, and monitor AI agent workflows in production at scale. The platform helps developers and enterprise teams operate large language model applications reliably through observability and quality improvement tools.
Who founded Respan?
Respan was founded by Andy Li, Raymond Huang, Hendrix in 2023.
Who are Respan's investors?
Respan's investors include Antigravity Capital, Y Combinator, Gradient Ventures, Hat-Trick Capital, XIAOXIAO FUND.
How much funding has Respan raised?
Respan has disclosed $10M raised across 2 rounds.
Where is Respan headquartered?
Respan is headquartered in San Francisco, US.