From Moon hotels to cattle herding: 8 startups investors chased at YC Demo Day
We polled nearly a dozen VCs to find out which W26 startups are the sought after in the batch.
Startups
Aetherflux reportedly raising Series B at $2 billion valuation
Index Ventures is said to be leading a $250 million to $350 million round.
OpenAI shuts down Sora while Meta gets shut out in court
When an 82-year-old Kentucky woman was offered $26 million from an AI company that wanted to build a data center on her land, she said no. Sure, that same company can try to rezone 2,000 acres nearby anyway, but…
16 of the most interesting startups from YC W’26 Demo Day
From redirecting doomscrolling to training humanoid robots, these 16 startups stood out as the most interesting ones from an overflowing YC cohort.
Defense startup Shield AI lands $12.7B valuation, up 140%, after U.S. Air Force deal
In one year, Shield AI’s value has leaped 140%. This after it won a contract to be the software provider to Anduril’s Fury fighter jet for the U.S. Air Force.
Why hiring the weirdos works
When you’re building at breakneck speed, hiring a trusted team is crucial for an early-stage startup. Bland CEO and co-founder Isaiah Granet has tactical advice on how the company managed to find hidden talent in…
Conntour raises $7M from General Catalyst, YC to build an AI search engine for security video systems
Conntour uses AI models to let security teams query camera feeds using natural language to find any object, person, or situation.
Mercor competitor Deccan AI raises $25M, sources experts from India
Deccan AI concentrates its workforce in India to manage quality in a fast-growing but fragmented AI training market.
Silicon Valley’s two biggest dramas have intersected: LiteLLM and Delve
LiteLLM offers an AI open source project used by millions that was infected by credential harvesting malware.
Riding the GLP-1 boom, VITL lands $7.5M to overhaul cash-pay clinic prescribing
The startup provides an e-prescribing marketplace for the booming cash-pay clinic market.