Haywheel
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Haywheel (Hay Labs Inc.), founded in New York in 2015, was an online marketplace for artisanal foods that let restaurants and specialty food stores order wholesale artisan ingredients — from lobster to tortellini — directly from producers. Launching at Y Combinator's S16 demo day, the company had more than 300 restaurants (including Michelin-starred establishments) using the service at launch and took a 10% commission on food purchased through the marketplace. It raised a $120K seed round from Y Combinator.
02 / Haywheel FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
No postmortem or founder statement explaining Haywheel's closure was found. The Y Combinator company database marks Haywheel as dead; its HAYWHEEL trademark filing was cancelled in 2024.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Haywheel (Hay Labs Inc.) was founded in New York in 2015.
- YC S16 launch
Haywheel launched at Y Combinator's S16 demo day with over 300 restaurants on the platform, taking a 10% commission; it raised $120K from Y Combinator.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Haywheel was founded in New York in 2015 as an online marketplace for artisanal foods serving restaurants and specialty food stores.
- 02
It launched at Y Combinator's S16 demo day with over 300 restaurants using the service, taking a 10% commission, and raised $120K from Y Combinator.
- 03
The Y Combinator company database marks Haywheel as dead.