Willow

Backed byY Combinator

Work at Willow?

Total raised$4.5M
StageSeed
Founded2025
Team size1-10
HQSan Francisco, United States
Industries
SoftwareAI/MLProductivityVoice TechnologySaaS

About Willow

Willow is building THE voice operating system that lets users control their computer entirely by voice. It writes for you today, takes actions for you tomorrow, and anticipates what you need before you ask. Willow has proven adoption from individual power users to enterprises, including Uber, Gusto, and Heidi Health. It is backed by Y Combinator and Box Group, with founders from Instacart, Reddit, Shopify, and HubSpot among its backers.

Company at a glance

Location
San Francisco, United States

Founders & Leadership

EB

Ethan Bilderbeek

Growth @ Willow | UChicago

LinkedIn
AA

Aditya Arya

Future Leader in Business & Politics | Real Estate & Innovation | Oracle-Certified Gen AI Professional

LinkedIn
AC

Agnibha Chatterjee

Eng @ Willow (YC X25)

LinkedIn
AG

Allan Guo

Chief Keyboard Killer @ Willow (Try it out 📣) | We’re hiring!

LinkedIn
JA

Joseph Ayinde

Co-founder & CEO @ Cognition | ex-OpenAI/Scale AI | Neuro + ML Research scholar @ Carnegie Mellon | UNC Alumnus | Aspiring Neurosurgeon |

LinkedIn

Location

About the Team

Team Distribution

  • Other Specialties38%
  • Sales & Business Development29%
  • Engineering14%
  • Leadership10%
  • Operations5%

Where the Team Studied

  1. 1.Stanford University
  2. 2.University of California, Berkeley
  3. 3.Cornell University
  4. 4.University of Chicago
  5. 5.Carnegie Mellon University

Team Worked At

  • OpenAI
  • ElevenLabs
  • Scale AI
  • Google
  • Microsoft

Team Composition

21 people
  • Entrepreneurship6 senior6
  • Engineering2 senior3
  • Marketing1 senior2
  • Arts and Design1 senior1
  • Healthcare Services1
  • Product Management1
  • Research1

Funding History

EquityNov 2025

$4.5M

raised

Voice keyboard startup Willow raised a $4.5 M round from Box Group, Y Combinator, Burst Capital, and prominent angel investors.

Y CombinatorBurst CapitalBoxGroup

Life at Willow

Frequently asked questions

Companies similar to Willow

Bild AI

The company aims to make building affordable by leveraging AI to analyze blueprints. It focuses on building computer vision object detection models and coordinating these models, with an emphasis on ML and algorithm development. The company states it prioritizes the intelligence side (ML and algorithms) over the application side. Backed by investors who have funded PlanGrid, Dropbox, and Airbnb, it has strong backing. It is part of Y Combinator's Winter 2025 batch (YCW25).

AI/ML1-10
Catio

Catio is an Architecture IDE that serves as a control plane for modern software systems, operating at the intersection of AI, infrastructure, and enterprise systems. The platform builds a living model of production systems and aligns business goals with technical reality, enabling organizations to bridge the gap between strategy and implementation. Catio generates decision-grade insights, modernization and optimization plans, and execution-ready feature specs, effectively creating a system of work for architectural reasoning in the modern software stack. Backed by leading venture firms Eniac Ventures and RRE, along with operators from companies like Databricks, Dropbox, Akamai, and Cerner, Catio is defining a new category in software and infrastructure.

AI/ML1-10
Movo AI

Movo AI is a New York City-based company that builds autonomous AI agents for the family services market. The company has demonstrated rapid growth, scaling from $0 to $1 million ARR in four months. The six-person team operates onsite at its FlatIron office in New York City. Its CEO previously led go-to-market at 11x, and its CTO previously led engineering at Uber and DoorDash. Its target market includes youth programs such as sports academies, camps, and enrichment centers, and it has driven an average of $17,800 in added monthly revenue per client.

AI/ML1-10