From Moon lodges to cattle herding: 8 startups traders chased at YC Demo Day | TechCrunch

Investors have flocked to Y Combinator’s Demo Days for years to get their palms on promising startups constructing cool tech. After all, the accelerator has produced a few of the largest tech firms on this planet, from Airbnb and Reddit to Dropbox, Zapier and Stripe.

That’s why we make it a degree to keep watch over the occasion to identify probably the most fascinating firms from every batch. As I’ve been doing almost each quarter now that the accelerator has moved to 4 cohorts a 12 months, I requested almost a dozen traders which startups have been most in demand at Y Combinator’s Winter 2026 Demo Day earlier this week.

To guarantee our listing included actually sought-after standouts, an organization needed to be flagged as a ‘fave’ by no less than two completely different enterprise capital traders to make the lower.

As for valuations, I’m listening to that no less than a pair startups have raised funds at a $100 million price ticket, although notably, these startups are already bringing in run-rate income of $1 million or extra. Even for the much less buzzy startups not on this listing, the “default” valuation this quarter appears to be round $30 million, which traders instructed me is roughly two-fold the present seed market common.

Without additional ado, right here’s the listing:

Beyond Reach Labs

What it’s constructing: Deployable photo voltaic arrays for satellites.

Why it’s a favorite: The startup claims it has developed photo voltaic arrays which are the dimensions of a eating desk at launch, however unfold to the dimensions of a soccer subject once they attain orbit. The founders say their system can improve out there energy ten-fold whereas slashing prices by 88%. Beyond Reach already has a flight deliberate for 2027, and says it has secured $325 million in letters of intent from main area firms.

Byteport

What it’s constructing: A ridiculously quick file switch protocol.

Why it’s a favorite: According to Byteport’s founder Jayram Palamadai, present file switch protocols like TCP are too sluggish for the AI age. That’s why he constructed DART, quick for Dynamic Accelerated Record Transfer, which may apparently switch massive information at a median of 10 instances quicker than TCP, and even as much as 1,500 instances quicker on “reliable connections.”

Hex Security

What it’s constructing: Continuous AI-powered safety testing instruments.

Why it’s a favorite: To battle hackers utilizing AI to launch continuous cyberattacks, Hex is constructing AI brokers that may act as penetration testers, consistently probing for vulnerabilities and safety gaps in firms’ infrastructure. By automating what was as soon as a handbook course of carried out occasionally, Hex claims it may well forestall assaults at a fraction of the price. The startup claims it has crossed run-rate income of greater than $1 million in simply eight weeks, which can be why VC traders, as one individual instructed me, “were fighting” to put money into the corporate.

Grazemate

What it’s constructing: Autonomous drones to herd and monitor cattle.

 Why it’s a favorite: Moving cattle on large ranches is an costly and harmful enterprise, usually involving helicopters and motorbikes. GrazeMate’s founder, who grew up on a 6,000-head cattle station in Australia, noticed a method to make life simpler for ranchers, so he dropped out of school the place he was pursuing a robotics diploma.

GrazeMate’s drones can mechanically information cattle to completely different areas of a ranch, estimate animals’ weight, grass availability and progress, and might comply with pre-specified route plans.

GRU Space

What it’s constructing: Permanent lunar infrastructure, beginning with a lodge on the Moon.

Why it’s a favorite: “Humanity will become interplanetary. It’s a matter of not if, but when, and the time is now,” says GRU Space founder Skyler Chan, a latest Berkeley grad who beforehand constructed software program at Tesla and labored on NASA-funded area tech.

Chan claims his startup has developed a “moon factory” that may flip lunar soil into structural bricks, which he plans to make use of to construct a luxurious lodge on the moon as a “wedge” for broader lunar infrastructure. GRU’s astronomical aspirations, together with its purpose to open the primary lunar lodge by 2032, have made it one of the crucial talked-about startups of this YC batch. The firm has already secured $500 million in letters of intent, an invite to the White House, and even a reservation from the Trump household.

Luel

What it’s constructing: A market for human-captured knowledge to coach multimodal AI.

Why it’s a favorite: Founded by two UC Berkeley dropouts, Luel is constructing a knowledge market that connects AI mannequin makers with contributors who can submit “daily-life” actions, akin to ironing or patient-doctor conversations, to supply audio, video and picture knowledge. The firm claims it’s producing ARR of almost $2 million inside six weeks, fueled by excessive demand from robotics and voice AI labs.

Pax Historia

What it’s constructing: An alternative-history technique recreation powered by AI.

Why it’s a favorite: Pax Historia permits customers to rewrite historical past in a approach conventional technique video games can’t. Using generative AI, the sport responds to infinite, advanced geopolitical eventualities, from “What if Rome never fell?” to “What if the USA took over Greenland?” The founders declare the sport at present attracts 35,000 every day customers who’ve performed almost 20 million rounds.

Stilta

What it’s constructing: Agentic AI for mental property and patent legal professionals.

Why it’s a favorite: Stilta’s founders declare that patent disputes can value as much as $4 million per case, largely attributable to handbook doc assessment prices. The startup says its AI agent can search and analyze patents throughout databases and scientific literature, saving each time and authorized charges.

The firm’s brokers are already being utilized by IP legal professionals at pharmaceutical big Roche. For traders, one other engaging side is that the founders hail from Sweden — latest Swedish successes like Lovable and Legora have created one thing of a “halo effect” round firms from the area, one VC investor stated.