Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator held the second Demo Day for its Summer time 2024 cohort on Thursday, and similar to we noticed on Day 1, AI stays the main focus of most startups on this cohort.
Nevertheless, we did additionally discover a couple of attention-grabbing startups which are engaged on cool tech like drones that may’t be jammed, carpooling for freight, and climate prediction.
Listed below are the businesses that stood out:
What it does: Detects errors in engineering tasks, proposes options and may even implement them itself
Why it’s a favourite: I used to be intrigued when Entangl stated it has talked to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy about automating knowledge heart verification. The truth that the startup already has offers with AWS and Vodafone is a giant plus.
What it does: Power-efficient chips for AI
Why it’s a favourite: One of many issues with AI is that it consumes a ton of power. Early exams of Exa’s chips present that they’re practically 28 instances extra environment friendly than NVIDIA’s H100s. What’s higher, these chips can adapt to completely different fashions — you simply must configure them with software program. Exa hopes to have them prepared for utilization by early 2025.
What it does: Growing an autoimmune remedy that kills most cancers
Why it’s a favourite: Keytruda and different autoimmune medicine have been a game-changer for a lot of most cancers sufferers, however there’s nonetheless a protracted strategy to go. Kopra Bio is engaged on a drug that might change that. In early exams on animals, most had been nonetheless alive after 250 days, whereas animals on an FDA-approved drug died in simply 50 days. If the drug works the identical means in people, it could possibly be an enormous breakthrough for survival.
What it does: AI bookkeeper for startups
Why it’s a favourite: LedgerUp’s AI guarantees to make bookkeeping simpler for companies. It will possibly categorize transactions, discover reductions and credit that you will have missed, handle invoices, and even handle taxes. I hope bookkeeping turns into a job no person will miss.
What it does: Presents a collection of productiveness apps for rising organizations
Why it’s a favourite: Wayne Crosby, OrgOrg’s founder, says that his firm can assist companies streamline their app utilization. Whereas many companies could also be able to consolidate their app distributors, what caught my eye about OrgOrg was Crosby’s background: The three-time founder took his first firm via YC all the best way again in 2007 and later bought it to Google, the place it grew to become Google Slides. This expertise is certain to draw investor curiosity.
What it does: Carpooling for freight
Why it’s a favourite: I’m a giant fan of Uber Pool, so I used to be excited to find out about Oway. The startup lets small companies share truck house and lower your expenses on transport — ridesharing for freight, primarily. It’s sooner and cheaper — what’s to not like about this?
What it does: Foundational mannequin for predicting the climate
Why it’s a favourite: Silurian’s founders beforehand helped construct one of many world’s most correct climate forecasting fashions: Microsoft Analysis’s Aurora. However 4 months in the past, they left the tech large to construct their very own climate prediction engine, which they declare is an excellent higher prognosticator than Aurora — the corporate is constructing foundational fashions for simulating your complete planet, and so they’re concentrating on climate first.
What it does: Develops unjammable drones
Why it’s a favourite: Drones have modified the sport in warfare. They’ll spy on the enemy in real-time and may even hit targets with pinpoint accuracy, all whereas lowering the necessity to put pilots in danger. However there’s a catch: there are lots of methods to jam drones, which makes them ineffective. This has been a giant downside within the Russia-Ukraine struggle. Theseus claims that its drones can dodge jamming, even when the opponent is Russia.
What it does: Reduces congestion and accidents with good site visitors lights
Why it’s a favourite: Controlling site visitors lights with AI feels like the right utility of this know-how. Xtraffic says that it’s already doing it in a number of cities in Texas. I hope they make it to my city in California, too, as a result of I positive am uninterested in ready for the sunshine to show inexperienced when there aren’t any different automobiles round.
