In the summer of 2018, Qi Lu joined Y Combinator to help create YC China, a localized version of our U.S. program. As we worked to establish YC China, we had a change in leadership. With this, our strategy changed back to our tried and true approach of supporting local and international startups from our headquarters in Silicon Valley.

As a result, we decided that now is not the right time to run a new, country-specific version of Y Combinator. Qi and his team, however, will continue to leverage the work they put into YC China and support local founders who wish to stay in China; Qi will now fund companies under his new program, MiraclePlus.

Pulling back on creating YC China was a hard decision. The energy and talent in China is an amazing force. However, we will continue to support and fund Chinese companies who are interested in applying to YC — but as part of our U.S. program.

Most of all, we will miss having Qi be part of Y Combinator. Many of us have known Qi for decades; he’s an old friend and remains someone who YC will support and collaborate with for years to come.