The latest Y Combinator Demo Day, held on Thursday, saw a notable shift towards deep tech startups, according to venture capitalists (VCs). Investors identified several companies as particularly buzzy, with technologies described by one VC as feeling “like science fiction.”
Among the highlighted startups, Atomarine plans to develop nuclear-powered data centres floating at sea, aiming to launch a gas-powered pilot by 2028 and transition to nuclear power ships in 2032. Lamb Labs is working on custom inference chips, dubbed “Model Processing Units” (MPUs), designed to hardcode AI model weights directly into silicon for greater efficiency. Parasma is exploring the use of human brain cells as an energy-efficient alternative for AI computing hardware.
Other companies attracting attention included Dipole Labs, which is building high-speed optical networking hardware for AI data centres, and Isengard, focused on locally producible, jet-powered strike and counter-drones. Nori launched a humanoid robot priced at around $1,600, promising to assist with everyday tasks like cleaning and folding clothes. Another startup is developing autonomous robots for heavy lifting, with $25 million in contracts through 2027 for installing solar panels.