At Y Combinator’s Spring 2025 Demo Day on Wednesday, practically each presenting startup had one thing to do with AI — they’re both growing AI brokers or creating instruments to facilitate their improvement.
Certainly, a number of founders appear to be taking a leaf out of the pages of a number of profitable AI startups: about half a dozen startups have been presenting variations of “Cursor for X.” For instance, Den is constructing a “Cursor for information employees,” and Vessence is on its technique to make a “Cursor for attorneys.”
It wasn’t all solely about AI, although. We seen a number of startups are engaged on robotics, which appears to be having a little bit of a revival in the mean time.
Beneath are a number of the startups that caught each buyers’ and our consideration.
Anvil
What it does: search engine optimization for LLMs
Why it’s a favorite: How individuals seek for content material is altering, with of us utilizing numerous AI instruments like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity to search out content material. Understandably, manufacturers must discover a technique to enhance their visibility on these platforms. Anvil claims it helps manufacturers measure, optimize and enhance their presence on these AI instruments.
Atum Works
What it does: Builds 3D chips
Why it’s a favorite: Transistors aren’t getting smaller as quick as they used to, so Atum’s founders suggest the very best new technique to put extra transistors on a chip, and due to this fact enhance processing energy, is to stack them in three dimensions. Traders advised me that Atum’s imaginative and prescient is so revolutionary that the corporate has an opportunity to develop into the following NVIDIA.
Auctor
What it does: Automates enterprise software program implementation
Why it’s a favorite: The startup says outstanding software program distributors like SAP, ServiceNow, AWS and Field have already reached out to make use of Auctor’s resolution themselves and probably for assist with integrating software program at buyer websites.
Cactus
What it does: AI copilot for solopreneurs
Why it’s a favorite: Cactus says individuals who run companies all by themselves are sometimes too busy to pursue new alternatives. The startup says its AI bot can take off a number of the load by answering calls and accepting funds in your behalf.
Den
What it does: Cursor for enterprise information employees
Why it’s a favorite: Traders advised me this is likely one of the hottest corporations within the batch. Den guarantees its AI brokers can exchange Slack and Notion, enabling an organization’s workers to work together and share data with software program tailor-made to every enterprise’s particular wants.
Eloquent AI
What it does: Automates buyer operations with AI
Why it’s a favorite: Eloquent says its AI bots might help clients of monetary companies corporations do issues like robotically unfreeze financial institution accounts or add drivers to automobile insurance coverage insurance policies. In different phrases, Eloquent guarantees an finish to lengthy waits for human customer support. The startup claims monetary corporations can deploy its AI close to immediately without having to contain inner engineering groups. Eloquent has already raised “a big seed spherical,” Tugce Bulut, the startup’s co-founder and CEO stated on the TBPN podcast.
LLM Knowledge Firm
What it does: Tooling for analysis and reinforcement studying
Why it’s a favorite: Evaluating all the brand new AI instruments for high quality is snowballing into a giant, tough drawback. LLM Knowledge Firm says it could actually assist with its personal LLMs that may consider the standard of an AI agent, and it’s already working with clients together with Perplexity.
Scalar Subject
What it does: AI-powered Bloomberg terminal
Why it’s a favorite: “Terminals are dashboards and never considering instruments,” says Amandeep Singh, co-founder of Scalar Subject. Whereas the startup’s AI brokers gained’t “assume” for you, it claims they’ll manipulate monetary information with extra flexibility than current monetary instruments.
Sygaldry
What it does: Quantum accelerated AI servers to hurry up AI coaching and inference
Why it’s a favorite: Whereas a totally functioning quantum pc should be years away, the business has been making progress. What caught my eye about Sygaldry is that its co-founder and CEO is Chad Rigetti, who based and took his firm public through a SPAC in 2021.
Vybe
What it does: Vibe coding to construct functions
Why it’s a favorite: Traders who noticed a demo of Vybe constructing apps advised me that it could actually create all types of cool instruments. One individual I talked to even referred to as it a “clear winner” of the batch.
