YC funds approximately 0% of the new companies started every year, so it&#x27;s not like there&#x27;s a shortage of other options :)<p>As for returns, the average value of YC companies that are more than two years old is over $100M. I&#x27;m not aware of any other model that even comes close to that.<p>If anything, I&#x27;d like to find more ways to fund even more extreme moonshots (e.g. <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;techcrunch.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;08&#x2F;14&#x2F;y-combinator-and-mithril-invest-in-helion-a-nuclear-fusion-startup&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;techcrunch.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;08&#x2F;14&#x2F;y-combinator-and-mithril-in...</a>). Funding an actual, literal moonshot would be wonderful.