Donkey
Donkey is a YC Summer 2026 (S26) company. Based in San Francisco, CA, USA. Team of 7.
About Donkey
Summary
Donkey buys goods directly from Chinese factories and sells to US importers at a single delivered, duty-paid price to their dock. It replaces traditional trading companies, which mark up containers and conceal factory sources, by using AI to identify the actual manufacturer from a product photo and return a landed cost quote within 72 hours. Donkey takes title, places its own inspectors on factory floors before payment, and handles freight, duties, and logistics under one contract.
Business model
A single all-in delivered price per container order, with net-45 credit terms available to qualified buyers.
Go-to-market
US importers purchasing from China are the target customer; they engage by uploading a buying list or submitting a product photo to receive an instant landed price, making the entry point fully self-serve.
From the Y Combinator listing
The AI-native trading company: China factory-direct for US importers
Donkey is the modern trading company. We buy straight from Chinese factories and sell delivered to US importers: one USD price to their dock, duty paid, our own inspectors on the factory floor before the factory gets paid. Most importers buy through trading companies that mark up every container 15 to 30 percent and never reveal the factory. US customs records are public. Almost nobody reads them, so we arrive already knowing their supply lane. They send one photo of a part they reorder. We name the factory that actually makes it and beat their landed cost in 72 hours, or they keep their supplier. We take title, run the inspection, move the money, and offer credit-insured net-45 terms to qualified buyers. The old trading giants ran this coordination with tens of thousands of people. Our machine runs it with a handful, and every settled order compounds the pricing and reliability data the next one runs on. Team in SF and China, English and Mandarin. Know a US importer buying from China? Send them our way: one photo of a part, and we will name their factory. donkey.trade
Facts
- B2B / B2B -> Supply Chain and Logistics
- San Francisco, CA, USA
- 7
- Active
- Early
Founders (2)
- Benjamin Martindale
- Minghao Tan
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