Rose-Hulman founders land Y Combinator spot and $500K

By AI, Created 11:31 AM UTC, May 20, 2026, /AGP/ – Rose-Hulman students Agnay Srivastava and Pulkit Gupta were accepted into Y Combinator’s summer 2026 cohort for Tsenta, an AI tool that automates job applications. The startup also secured $500,000 in funding as the founders prepare to spend three months building in the San Francisco accelerator network.

Why it matters: - Tsenta aims to cut down the time students spend copying the same information into job and internship portals. - The startup’s Y Combinator acceptance gives the Rose-Hulman founders access to a highly selective accelerator with a strong track record of backing major consumer and software companies. - The $500,000 funding round gives Tsenta resources to speed up product development.

What happened: - Rose-Hulman students Agnay Srivastava and Pulkit Gupta were accepted into Y Combinator’s summer 2026 accelerator cohort. - The pair will use the program to advance Tsenta, an AI-powered job application tool. - Srivastava is a senior computer science major. Gupta is a sophomore computer science major. - The founders also received $500,000 in Y Combinator funding. - The acceptance places the Rose-Hulman team in a program that has helped launch companies including DoorDash, Airbnb, Instacart and Reddit.

The details: - Tsenta was created after Srivastava and Gupta were frustrated by the repetitive job and internship application process. - The tool matches students with online job postings and manages applications. - Tsenta is designed to save users hours each day while still letting them control and edit application content. - Srivastava said the application process can take 2-3 hours every day and that AI can help with both quantity and quality. - Tsenta positions itself as different from other auto-applier tools because it lets users complete multiple applications at once while remaining transparent and affordable. - The product currently supports more than 10 application platforms, including Workday, Greenhouse and Ashby. - Tsenta keeps adding platforms based on user demand. - Srivastava said building Tsenta has been especially enjoyable because the product solves a real problem for the founders and other users. - Tsenta was built using skills the founders learned at Rose-Hulman, including database systems, web development and human-computer interface requirements engineering. - Srivastava said Rose-Hulman’s curriculum pushed students to dive into technical details. - Gupta said the school’s rigorous, hands-on computer science program helped him build software design and systems skills and turn ideas into working products.

Between the lines: - Y Combinator is a hard-to-reach accelerator, so the acceptance signals outside validation for a student-built startup. - The founders said getting into Y Combinator had always been the goal. - Their path into the program included a referral after connecting with founders who had gone through Y Combinator at a Georgia Tech hackathon, where Srivastava and Gupta won two categories. - The startup also gives Rose-Hulman a visible example of its entrepreneurship push under the Advancing by Design strategic plan. - Rose-Hulman has been building that pipeline through resources and events including Engineerathon, Sawmill Society Weekend and ESCALATE.

What’s next: - Srivastava and Gupta will spend three months working with investors and Y Combinator alumni to develop Tsenta. - The cohort will build toward Demo Day, where startups can present progress and compete for more funding. - Gupta said the founders want to use the San Francisco startup ecosystem and direct advice from experienced founders to accelerate Tsenta. - Rose-Hulman says more information about campus entrepreneurship resources is available at entrepreneurship opportunities.

The bottom line: - Tsenta’s Y Combinator acceptance turns a campus startup into a funded company with access to one of the startup world’s most influential launchpads.