Y Combinator offers 7 startups ideas they want to fund (Spring 2026)
As usual, Y Combinator came up with segments that are worth investing:
1. Cursor for Product Managers
2. AI-Native Hedge Funds
3. AI-Native Agencies
4. Stablecoin Financial Services
5. AI for Government
6. Modern Metal Mills
7. AI Guidance for Physical Work
8. Large Spatial Models
9. Infra for Government Fraud Hunters
10. Make LLMs Easy to TrainWhich of the following do you think are the most interesting?
OR
Would you add to the list, maybe something that is more worth funding?
Also, are you going to apply? š
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Nika! Thanks for the post. We have been bullish on AI-Native Agencies since a while! RFS was such pleasant timing, especially since the last one was in Fall 25 (and we got a No from the interviews for a different idea. Very valid feedback which dictated our pivot). I have led Content and Growth for a YCW20 before, handling mid-tier content creators, and realized how burnt out creators are in admin work around brand deals (outreach, discovery, invoicing etc.). Alas, it's their biggest revenue source and agencies charge them 25%+ . Building an AI talent management agency to solve for this. Making users money already! https://usesnippet.app
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@aaupadhyĀ Will you also offer a freelance package too? I think that this is not only a problem of creative agencies, but freelancers who are also short of time and busy by doing real creative work ā they do not want to be halted by administrative tasks.
ProblemHunt
Hi Nika! As soon as I saw the first request on the list, I couldnāt pay attention to the rest anymore. It really feels like Ā«Cursor for Product ManagersĀ» is something thatās very needed and could take off strongly. But letās see what time shows š
Weāve submitted the ProblemHunt application for the second time.
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@gostroverhovĀ uuu, i have my fingers crossed for you! :)
ProblemHunt
@busmark_w_nikaĀ š¤
Scade.pro
@gostroverhovĀ good luck, Boris. Nice product name :)
ProblemHunt
@nastassia_kĀ thank you, Nastassia :)
Great breakdown! Iād probably vote for #1 (Cursor for PMs) as the most immediate need, but #7 feels like the biggest long-term shift for the workforce.
Iād add Personalized AI Tutors to the listānot just for coding, but for general skill acquisition. We need better ways to keep up with all this tech!
Good luck! š
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@jakub_malek1Ā I think that 7 is the most revolutionary and imagine including robots. That would be pretty awesome (and scary) :D
@busmark_w_nikaĀ Haha, exactly! Itās a mix of excitement and 'Terminator' vibes. :D
Speaking of the AI Tutorāwe actually applied to YC with it recently. We didn't make the cut this time (super competitive batch and slightly different market focus), but weāre not letting that stop us. Weāre iterating on the product and definitely applying again! š„
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@jakub_malek1Ā Wishing you good luck. To be honest, I do not know their criteria, but many people post on X about how they were rejected (it is true that mostly they were solo founders). Hopefully, your product will be appealing to them! :)
@busmark_w_nikaĀ Yeah, their exact criteria aren't public, but from what I've heard, the acceptance rate can be as low as 1 in 100. So the odds are tough, but we're definitely not giving up! šŖ
Iām putting all my bets on AI for Government! The dream of AI finally killing off soul-crushing bureaucracy and processes stuck in the 90s is just too good to ignoreš„¹
My only worry is that most governments are still have what to do with basic digitalization, let alone AI :D
But yes, itās definitely the biggest area for a massive upgrade!
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@valeriia_kunaĀ I think that this is more likely for China. Europe? eeeh :D Not so sure.
@valeriia_kunaĀ It's a big bet, but goes against the psychology of how the government operates. Most governments are about control. AI will reduce that. Same reason why blockchain/cryptography based tech has always been blocked by governments.
Having said that, I'm with you - I hope for a day where we don't have to deal with soul-crushing bureaucracy and red-tape.
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@fitnessrefinedĀ People in bureaucracy will not be happy, that's for sure.
AI-native agencies stand out to me. Itās basically: pick a boring but valuable niche, map the workflow, then replace chunks of it with agents that run autonomously. The hard part isnāt the tech, itās the scoping.
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@solomon_nwabuokuĀ To be honest, I am not so technical, but for me, the execution would be tricky :D
@solomon_nwabuokuĀ Running autonomously is hard. Even claude cowork dont support agent finding their next tasks to do on their own.
@solomon_nwabuokuĀ I'd wager the hard part will be getting the 'Taste' bit right. That's what agencies are supposed to bring to the table. And even before this AI wave - most agencies had lost that.
vibecoder.date
Mills as in machining equipment?
I think stablecoin based financial services that focus on being tax compliant would let local businesses take crypto without the regulatory nightmare.
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@build_with_ajĀ Now, I am pretty hesitant about crypto. I invested, and it all went down. š It happens to me every time. LOL.
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@siarhei_aiĀ No. 7 :)
interesting list but what's missing is #11. Tools to figure out what's actually worth building in the first place.
everyone's racing to build AI products but nobody's asking what problems people actually have. i might be crazy but i went the opposite direction. I built something with no AI at all.
frikt is an app where people post their daily frustrations in one sentence. others say same. patterns emerge. the idea is that before you build anything, you should know if enough people actually have that problem.
with AI making it so easy to build, the bottleneck isn't building anymore. it's knowing what to build. that's the gap i'm trying to fill.
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@karolisbuildsĀ I can say that there is a page that captures real problems so people can build a product according to that āĀ it is a @ProblemHunt
Stellify
I'm building an AI code editor (stellisoft.com). From what I've read it doesn't fit directly into those categories but I still intend to apply. Are you applying Nika?
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@stellify_softwareĀ Me not :D I do not have that ambition (and no idea what to build) :D Do you have co-founders? I have heard that co-founders are also a factor that influences the decision to approve