Y Combinator seeks startups in robotics, space and defence

SILICON Valley institution Y Combinator has released a new list of 20 types of startups it wants to join its accelerator programme – calling for applications in sectors like artificial intelligence-powered robotics, space and defence technology. 

Y Combinator, YC for short, updates the list periodically, depending on what kinds of startups it sees gaining traction and where it thinks there is opportunity. This update, released in a blog post on Wednesday (Feb 14), represents the biggest overhaul to its “requests for startups” since 2018. 

In the blog post, YC managing director Dalton Caldwell described the requests as “ideas we’d want to see made real, in spaces that we believe will be important in the coming decades”. The result is a window into the larger trends in the world of venture capital.

The first idea on YC’s list is applying machine learning to robotics. “For decades, everyone has known that robots are the future, as any science fiction novel will show,” YC partners wrote. Now, advances around artificial intelligence (AI) are making the technology more useful, particularly in industrial settings. It listed autonomous tractors and infrastructure inspection robots as examples.

“Robotics hasn’t yet had its GPT moment, but we think it’s close,” YC wrote. “With the rapid improvements in foundation models, it’s finally possible to make robots that have human-level perception and judgment. That’s been the missing piece.”

Other areas YC listed include applying AI to physical simulations, such as weather or airplane design; building up the manufacturing industry in the US; and “new space companies”. Launching objects into orbit is becoming increasingly affordable, YC said, meaning that space startups are not “necessarily harder” to build than software companies.

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The accelerator also put “new defence technology” on its list. “The US is now engaged in large-scale conflicts in several regions that threaten to change our world,” it said, going on to lament that the biggest defence contractors today are slow to innovate. Smaller defence technology companies have been an increasing area of focus for venture capitalists, drawing investors from firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund. 

Y Combinator is one of the most prominent and competitive Silicon Valley startup accelerators, and has backed companies including Airbnb, DoorDash and Stripe. BLOOMBERG