An E-2 investor visa could also do the trick in case of affluent resources. I wouldn't know about limits on the controlling stake though.

> Did it mean that 50% of YC batch applicants for EB-1 got it?

That was unclear of me. Actually, the ratio of granted vs. rejected applications dropped by around 50% (from a discussion in Feb this year). Thus, I don't know how many applied for in total in a typical cohort.