Meerkat is so popular, it just got banned from the biggest startup day in Silicon Valley

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sam altman

Brian Ach / Getty Images

Y Combinator's Sam Altman

Meerkat, the live streaming app, was easily the crowd favorite at SXSW, the music and tech festival that draws tons of startups down to Austin, Texas.

It got so big that just a few days after SXSW was over, it raised $12 million at a $40 million pre-money valuation.

And on Monday, Meerkat made noise again at an equally big startup event: Y Combinator's Demo Day.

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YC is the best known startup incubator in Silicon Valley, where startups like Airbnb and Dropbox got their start. Several times a year, the company hosts a demo day, where tons of YC-backed startups pitch their companies in front of investors.

At today's Meerkat was officially banned. 

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After the first session of presentations was over, YC president Sam Altman came on stage and asked the crowd to "stop live streaming" the event. He didn't specifically mention Meerkat by name, but it was pretty clear he was referencing the popular app.

And it turns out one of the people live streaming the event was Dave McClure of 500 Startups. He later apologized.

Later, in response to journalists who were mentioning the ban, Altman referenced the Securities and Exchange Commission:

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