Y Combinator wrapped up its semi-annual Demo Day on Wednesday, and there were a handful of startups from the Bay Area and beyond that particularly caught our eyes.
The Mountain View accelerator selected close to 300 companies for its Winter 2023 program — still a sizeable number but down from its peak of more than 400 a year ago. And it now invests $500,000 in each startup in its portfolio.
Software dominated the batch — particularly for B2B, enterprise and developer tools — and the number of startups using artificial intelligence exploded compared to previous years.
Interest in generative AI has exploded in the Bay Area in recent months, so its not surprising to see the frenzy reflected at YC. Here's a deeper dive into the hype, money and startups that are transforming San Francisco into a global AI hub.
In YC's winter batch, we saw startups like Decohorence and Play.ht which are using generative AI to develop video or audio tools.
There were also startups focused on other industries like climate, health, media, productivity, energy, aerospace and internet access.
In Southern California, one startup is building software for car wash businesses. Another is matching strangers up for in-person social experiences. And then there's an alternative protein startup that's creating a plant-based but definitely not vegan option.
Here are 12 of the most interesting and eyebrow raising startups that we think you should know about.
222 (Los Angeles) — Founders: Keyan Kazemian, Arman Roshannai and Danial Hashemi. "No profiles, no DMs, no scrolling, no swiping," its website says. The startup matches up strangers for in-person social group experiences at local venues.
Clearspace (San Francisco) — Founders: Royce Branning and Oliver Hill. An app to help people focus and reduce digital distractions.
Decoherence (San Francisco/Seattle) — Founders: Rishi Bhuta and Will Stith. Using generative AI for video creation.
Electric Air (San Francisco) — Founder: Chris Mui. Designing smart heat pumps for efficient home energy usage.
Finni Health (San Francisco/Toronto) — Founders: Bucky Khan and Yilun Chen. A marketplace for finding autism care providers.
FlexDesk (San Francisco/New York) — Founders: Clark Jacobs and Dhanvi Reddy. A service for businesses to help manage co-working spaces and expenses.
FlexWash (Temecula) — Founders: Karan Toor and Chirag Toor. Developing software tools that are specifically designed for car wash businesses.
Kurukuru (San Francisco/Boston) — Founders: Yiping Lyu and Fengjiao Peng. Using AI 3D graphics tools to help people create, publish and sell webcomics.
Momentum Foods (Los Angeles) — Founders: Saba Fazeli and Brice Klein. Creating alternative protein marketed under the brand "Paul's Table" that is plant-based but also contains some real meat.
Play.ht (Mountain View) — Founders: Mahmoud Felfel and Hammad Syed. Using generative AI to produce audio from text.
Radical (Seattle) — Founders: James Thomas and Cyriel Notteboom. Developing solar-powered, high-altitude aircraft that can deploy cellular service in areas that can't be easily reached by other ground-based and satellite options.
Stralis Aircraft (Australia) — Founders: Bob Criner and Stuart Johnstone. Developing hydrogen electric aircraft that produce zero emissions, beginning with a six-seat plane.
