{"id":102620,"date":"2025-08-22T20:24:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T20:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/102620\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T20:24:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T20:24:06","slug":"y-combinator-says-apples-app-store-has-hindered-startup-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/102620\/","title":{"rendered":"Y Combinator says Apple’s App Store has hindered startup growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Y Combinator has filed an amicus brief<\/a> in the ongoing legal battle between Apple and Epic Games, arguing that the App Store has stifled startup innovation.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve reached out to legal reps for YC and Apple for comment. <\/p>\n

The brief comes during the years-long legal dispute. Epic Games<\/a> first filed an antitrust lawsuit against the iPhone maker in 2020 in protest of Apple taking a 30% fee for every purchase made in the App Store, as well as in-game purchases. Epic claimed in its suit that Apple unlawfully banned developers from telling customers about payment alternatives to the App Store.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A judge ordered Apple to end its anti-steering policy, but instead, the company implemented a link program that allowed developers to link to alternative payment methods, with the app store taking a 27% fee.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

In another complaint, Epic accused Apple of violating the court injunction against anti-steering, and in April, the judge agreed, resulting in an order for Apple to stop imposing restrictions<\/a> on alternative payment solutions and collecting payment from such methods.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Apple is appealing that ruling, and that\u2019s why Y Combinator, a backer of Epic Games<\/a>, has filed this amicus brief in support of Epic Games. Y Combinator is asking the court to deny Apple\u2019s appeal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cY Combinator \u2014 and the larger venture capital community \u2014 have long been hesitant to back app-based businesses that were poor investments due to the Apple Tax,\u201d Y Combinator wrote in its filing. \u201cA 30% revenue share can easily be the difference between a company that can afford to scale, hire new employees, and reinvest in its product, and one that is perpetually struggling to stay afloat.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 27-29, 2025\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

With the current ruling \u2014 that Apple must allow developers to transparently offer alternative payment options \u2014 the startup investor wrote: \u201cFor the first time in nearly two decades, Y Combinator can seriously consider investing in innovative businesses that would have been impossible in the past because of the \u2018Apple Tax\u2019,\u201d the filing continued. The Apple Tax refers to the fees Apple took from App Store purchases.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It went on to say that the Apple Tax was a \u201cprofound and often insurmountable barrier to entry that stifles competition and innovation at its source\u201d and that the court should deny Apple\u2019s appeal and allow the anti-steering rule to stand. The next argument is set to take place on October 21.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019re always looking to evolve, and by providing some insight into your perspective and feedback into TechCrunch and our coverage and events, you can help us! Fill out\u00a0this survey<\/a>\u00a0to let us know how we\u2019re doing and get the chance to win a prize in return!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Y Combinator has filed an amicus brief in the ongoing legal battle between Apple and Epic Games, arguing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[50028,517,28,158,529],"class_list":{"0":"post-102620","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-app-store","9":"tag-apple","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-entrepreneurship","12":"tag-y-combinator"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}