Welcome to the National Beat, a weekly look at the people, companies and ideas that are shaping America’s innovation economy. Want this rundown of startup deals, exclusive insights and business intelligence to power your workweek? Become an Inno+ member today.
The Big One: What YC wants from startups
Storied Bay Area accelerator Y Combinator, which helped nurture Reddit, Dropbox and Airbnb, is looking for its next batch of companies to seed. It released an updated "request for startups" on Wednesday, outlining 20 categories it's particularly interested in, Bay Area Inno reports.
The list leans heavily towards artificial intelligence across many industries, including robotics, health care, enterprise software and domestic manufacturing, as well as foundational AI models.
Other sectors on the list include climate technology, space technology and defense technology.
"These are by no means the only ideas we’ll accept — many of the best ideas are the ones we would never expect — but if you aren't sure what you want to work on, these (requests) should provide a useful jumping-off point to begin your ideation process," the accelerator wrote in an announcement.
Y Combinator is also looking for startups working on ways to improve MRI technology for early-stage cancer screening, space-tech startups, defense technology, and augmented and virtual reality, among other things.
READ MORE: Y Combinator wants climate tech, AI, body-scan startups and more
Startups to Watch
- One year after Bret Taylor stepped down as co-CEO of Salesforce, he has announced details of his new startup, Sierra Technologies, which he co-founded with former Google executive Clay Bavor. Sierra is described as artificial intelligence for businesses that will automate interactions with customers in a conversational way. Early customers include WeightWatchers and SiriusXM, and the startup has raised $110 million from Sequoia Capital, Benchmark and others, Bay Area Inno reports.
- Cincinnati startup Remote Vans wants to be the Aston Martin of the van world. The startup — an RV manufacturer that converts premium Mercedes Sprinter vans for travel, work and play — recently moved into a new facility, where it can build out 150 to 200 vans a year, Cincy Inno reports.
- LoanStar Technologies, a rapidly growing Philadelphia-area fintech startup, has raised $28 million. Its software creates lending products for credit unions and community-based financial institutions they can package and offer to customers, PHL Inno reports.
- Hologram Sciences is using artificial intelligence to combat malnutrition in hospitals. The Boston-based company is developing an AI model for initial clinical use at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The model would enable hospitals to monitor patient nutrition and help improve hospitalization outcomes, BostInno reports.
- Bugcrowd, a San Francisco startup that works with well-intentioned hackers to discover and report bugs, raised $102 million in a later-stage round led by General Catalyst. Its investors reportedly valued the company at more than $1 billion, Bay Area Inno reports.
Music mogul turns to tech startups
As the head of Miami's Slip-N-Slide records, Ted Lucas helped hip-hop artists like Trick Daddy and Rick Ross reach millionaire status.
Now, he's turning his attention to technology entrepreneurs.
Lucas has teamed up with Silicon Valley veteran Hilmon Sorey to launch The Source Miami, an organization dedicated to supporting Black, women and underserved founders as they build and scale their startups. The Source officially opened a downtown Miami office, where founders can interact with their peers and connect with investors in south Florida.
The long-term goal is to bring more high-wage technology jobs to the region, to help close Miami's racial-wealth gap, Lucas said.
READ MORE: He backed music moguls. Now, Ted Lucas wants to create tech millionaires
Weird and Wired: This wearable hummingbird feeder was a hit on 'Shark Tank.' Then came the copycats
Since HummViewer, maker of a wearable hummingbird mask, first appeared on “Shark Tank” in December 2022, it has done more than $525,000 in gross sales and sold out of its inventory one day after the show aired.
But it's faced one specific challenge since appearing on "Shark Tank": copycats.
Founder Joan Creed said she found the first HummViewer knockoff seller on Amazon in March 2023. Since then, there have been “hundreds," and Creed and her husband manually submit copyright-infringement reports one at a time as new ones launch. The Creeds have submitted more than 150 infringement reports over the past year and spend a few hours every day reporting those third-party sellers.
“It’s like a whack-a-mole game,” Creed said. “We have to get rid of seller A, and then seller B comes in and re-lists it.”
READ MORE: ‘Shark Tank’ startup claims it's hindered by copycats
