Fifteen Bay Area startups came out of stealth on Tuesday and Wednesday to pitch to investors as part of Y Combinator's Demo Days.
The nascent companies operate in eight different fields, the most prominent among them being life sciences. Among the four just-out-of-stealth companies that are working that realm are ones developing treatments or help for people with cancer and obesity.
The 15 companies joined 79 others from the region that took part in the accelerator's summer program this year at the Demo Days event. In all, 377 startups from around the world were a part of YC's latest batch.
As it did with its event this spring event and with flast year's batches, YC held both the program's sessions and the Demo Days event virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic. After cramming all of the pitches from its spring program's participants into one day in March, YC switched back to a two-day format this time around.
"We wanted to keep each day shorter for the investors and leave the afternoon for investment meetings," Michael Seibel, managing director of the accelerator's early stage programs, told the Business Journal. "We also wanted to be friendlier to the global investor audience and our founders around the world."
YC hasn't completely figured out what format it will use for its post-pandemic demo days, Seibel said. But the accelerator will likely draw on its experience from its virtual sessions, he said.
"Looking at the data from the last two remote batches, it's clear that doing demo day online has not harmed fundraising efforts in any way and it's helped both global investors and founders better participate in the event," he said.
About half of all the companies that participated in YC's summer session this year are based outside the U.S., according to the accelerator. They represent 47 countries; 33 startups are from India, 18 from the U.K., 17 from Mexico, 12 from Singapore and 11 each from Canada and Brazil.
About 37% of the founders in this week's batch are from what YC calls "under-represented" groups — 22% are women, 15% are Latinx, 4% are Black and 0.33% are Native American or Native Hawaiian.
Here are the 15 Bay Area companies that came out of stealth on Tuesday and Wednesday, arranged by sector or industry:
Cryptocurrency, NFTs
- 2Cents, San Francisco: This startup is building a social networking service on top of the Ethereum blockchain.
- Filta, San Francisco: This company offers an app where users can buy and sell as NFTs limited-edition image filters for people's faces.
Life sciences, health
- Algen Biotechnologies, San Francisco: This startup is using Crispr gene-editing technology to find treatments for cancer.
- Fella (aka Aios Inc.), San Francisco: This is a telehealth startup that offers help for men who are obese.
- Vital (aka Adept Labs Inc.): San Francisco: This startup offers software that developers can use to access and include in their products health data from wearable devices and at-home test kits.
- Zen, San Francisco: This ergonomics-oriented startup offers an app tells users when they're slouching or need to go for a walk. It markets its service as a benefit companies can offer to their employees.
Real estate, construction
- Banner, San Francisco: This startup offers software for commercial real estate companies, allowing them to track their portfolios, manage projects, bid on projects and streamline their workflows.
- Zuma, San Francisco: This company has developed a chatbot for apartment rental agents that can schedule tours and handle basic questions from prospective tenants.
Customer relationship management
- BrightReps Inc., Pleasanton: This company's software is designed to automate and streamline enterprises' customer response process.
Collaboration
- Cabal Inc., San Francisco: This startup has developed a digital workspace designed for founders to be able to communicate with their investors, track contributions and tap into their shareholder network.
Data management, search, analysis
- HyperGlue Inc., San Francisco: This company's software helps businesses analyze unstructured data.
- Metaphor, San Francisco: This startup says it's built a better search engine than Google's by focusing it on the way people naturally ask questions rather than on keywords.
Cleantech, energy
- Moxion Power Co., Richmond: This startup has developed portable battery-powered electric power devices that can be used in place of diesel generators in the case of outages or temporary or remote events.
- Phykos, Oakland: This company is growing seaweed on huge platforms in the ocean as a way to take carbon out of the atmosphere and mitigate climate change.
Financial technology
- Pingland, San Francisco: This startup offers something like an online pawn shop, but one that gives users a credit line instead of cash in exchange for watches, jewelry, handbags and other items of value. Customers can get their things back when they repay their balance.
