The second half of Y Combinator's Winter 2024 cohort was announced Thursday, once again bringing dozens of startups to the crowd in the venture capital community. As on Wednesday, many of the TechCrunch staff watched the entire series of presentations and selected a few to highlight.
Enjoy your favorites from round two of the Y Combintor demo while you head out to grab a few pots of coffee. at work!
TechCrunch Staff Favorites
Atopile
What it does: Allows electrical engineers to design circuit boards using code. Why it's popular: Much of the circuit board electrical engineering work is done through the GUI. Did anyone know? This writer was not, and I was immediately intrigued by Atopile. The startup, co-founded by Matt Wildoer, Timothée Peter, and Narayan Powderly, aims to bring design reuse, version control, and automation to hardware design. These three authors advocate aspects that are seriously lacking in existing design tools. Instead of having electrical engineers manually draw schematics and verify every small change on a test bench, Atopil uses a custom programming language to capture product requirements and build the necessary manufacturing files from there. Verify. Clever.Selected person: Kyle
Scritch
What it does: A platform for veterans to run their practices Why it's popular: So, as I found out after a quick Google search (or several), platforms for running a veterinary business aren't new. But Scritch co-founders Claire Lee and Rachel Lee say what sets them apart is their heavy reliance on automation. Scritch handles inventory management and care coordination, as well as scheduling, billing, and clinical workflow. Additionally, the platform supports veterinary customers by filing insurance claims on their behalf. This seems like a very attractive feature for would-be pet owners.Selected person: Kyle
lanthanum
What it does: Postgres vector search tool Why it's popular: If you've covered the world of AI at all, you've probably heard of vectors. For example, some companies, like Semi, have raised large sums of money for their open source vector database software. Lantern sells hosted Postgres vector databases on his own Lantern Cloud. Its pitch is that its products are cheaper than similar products from his AWS company. As I continue to search for startups that could cash in on the AI boom, I'm adding Lantern to the list.Selected person: Alex
paradigm
What it does: AI agents for task automation Why it's popular: There's been a lot of talk about using AI to replace workers performing repetitive tasks. Even more interesting in the near term are AI tools that help the same employees work more and faster. This is what Paradigm is building on marketing and sales market use cases with a human angle. I spent enough time with business development people and account executives to know that the market for this technology could be huge.Selected person: Alex
just those words
What it does: GenAI helps companies improve their writing Why we love it: When Just Words founder Neha Mittal worked at Twitter and Pinterest, she discovered that small word changes in user-facing communications can have a big impact on engagement rates. I noticed that. That's consistent with what I've learned from writing online. The startup's plans to bring similar inspiration to customers could prove popular. I picked this one as a favorite because it fits right into a theme I've been noticing since the rise of ChatGPT and similar services: people hate writing. They don't want to do it! As a result, tools to help people who don't write will become more important.Selected person: Alex
Pythagora
Features: Build and improve your apps from text prompts. Why this is my favorite: I like two things about this. First, in less than a quarter, he has generated $47,000 worth of monthly recurring revenue ($564,000 ARR) from 140 customers. That's a lot, right away. And second, because it describes an interactive approach to app development, where you code what's in your head as you answer questions. I'm downloading Visual Studio to try this out, but the concept itself is very appealing to me as I haven't actually written code since high school. (Later in the day, Marblism shared a related pitch, but it would be a shame not to include it here.) Selected by: Alex
Commodity AI
What it does: AI-powered shipping management for goods trading Why it's popular: Trading goods involves cross-border communication, strict adherence to import laws, and a lot of red tape. His CommodityAI mission to bring all the invoices and paperwork involved in commodity trading online and add a layer of collaboration on top makes a lot of sense. This seems like a huge improvement when you can find numbers and data on paper documents compared to having to call each other in other countries to double-check.Selected person: Becca
Copia
What: We partner with apparel retailers to let shoppers virtually try on clothes Why we like it: It's hard to predict how things will look on your body I don't like buying clothes online because it's a hassle to send them back. Copia wants to help consumers visualize how clothes fit by dressing them in avatars that mimic a person's body shape. Other startups are also experimenting with the idea of virtual fitting rooms, but I've yet to see these tools available on a shopping site. Will Copia's products be of interest to retailers? It's hard to say, but I certainly need a wardrobe update, so I hope they or another company solves this.Selected person: Marina
care weather
What it does: More accurate weather data using low-cost planar satellites Why it's popular: Obtaining accurate weather forecasts is extremely important, as severe weather can impact people, structures, and supply chains. It is important. I love that this company is not only trying to make weather forecasts more accurate, but they're doing it by building cheaper satellites. The company says its technology is 17 times more accurate at predicting weather outcomes than existing systems. This is a noble declaration. I'm a fan of anything that helps me predict when my building's basement will flood, even if it's not as accurate as the startup claims.Selected person: Becca
Miden
What it does: Infrastructure for card issuer processing and core banking for businesses in sub-Saharan Africa Why it's popular: Technology for sub-Saharan Africa is something you don't hear much about in the startup space. His technology for B2B companies in the region is even less common. Building a fintech infrastructure that allows businesses to issue cards and submit expense reports seems like a smart foundation for businesses to acquire customers and expand to other fintech products. It seems to me. He said the technology Miden is building is clearly in demand, and the startup is already profitable and seeing strong traction so far.Selected person: Becca
Oma care
What it does: Help pay family caregivers. Why we love it: The long-term care market is growing, and there's a huge opportunity and demand to make such a daunting experience a little easier. I like this app because research shows that women are more than twice as likely as men to be caregivers, and that women shoulder the most caregiving duties. is. In most cases, women do not receive wages in return, adding to the growing statistic that women's unpaid labor worldwide is worth more than $10 trillion. We welcome anything that seeks to address this issue and are excited to see further innovation in this area.Selected person: Dom
garage
What it does: A marketplace for used fire equipment Why we love it: This is a really cool idea. Since it costs thousands of dollars to equip a single firefighter, it seems prudent to establish a way for these departments to obtain equipment without spending a lot of money. This is especially true given that budget concerns prevent fire departments from providing firefighters with the safest equipment. Sometimes great technology ideas don't have to be complicated.Selected person: Becca
point one
What it does: Time tracking and attorney billing with Alpower Why it's so popular: PointOne co-founder and former Fenwick & West attorney Adrian Perlow says one of the worst parts of being a lawyer is… He says it's something that needs to be tracked. His time is in 6 minute increments. I'm not a lawyer or paralegal, but I think it would be tedious and time consuming to figure out what fraction of an hour he spent on each client. PointOne claims that advances in AI can automate the generation of timesheets by capturing work done on lawyers' laptops and computers. I'm a big fan of any application that eases the busy work of professionals. Now, can someone figure this out to claim expenses?Selected person: Marina
Source link