AI was once again the buzzword for this latest batch of YC Demo Day companies. Nearly 190 companies participated in Y Combinator’s Winter ‘26 cohort and presented their startups in a Demo Day on Tuesday.

These companies are working on products across industries such as law, transportation, and healthcare.

I did not, admittedly, listen to every single product pitch given the sheer size of the cohort and this year’s Demo Day format available to media: YC posted the pitch videos, one by one, around 20 minutes after their presentations (rather than a livestream, or an in-person session invite).

Instead, I read about all 190 of the startups presenting and spent the day watching pitches from those we found intriguing, then narrowed it down to the 16 that stood out as the most interesting startups of this overflowing YC class.

ARC Prize Foundation

What it does: Creates benchmarks to help measure progress toward AGI.

Why it’s interesting: A nonprofit in YC! But then again, when OpenAI, Anthropic, and GoogleMind are already using some form of the organization’s benchmarks, it makes sense why it would be included. This foundation aims to inspire more open-source AGI research by hosting competitions and awarding research grants. One reason for this AI revolution is to reach AGI (which Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says has already arrived), and it will be a matter of historical record for tracking how close or we are from AI machines that have a general intelligence.

Asimov

What it does: Collects human movement data to train humanoids

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San Francisco, CA

October 13-15, 2026

Why it’s interesting: People from around the world submit videos of themselves performing movements and tasks and to this company so it can then turn it into datasets that can help train robots. It’s part of the movement trying to make humanoids a thing, finding uses for them beyond the supply chain and entertainment. I’m bullish on humanoid technology, even though our “Rosey the Robot” era still might be eons away. Using data to teach humanoids the flow and — dare I biasly say, elegance — of human movement could help them less, well, robotic as they perform tasks.

Avoice

What it does: Helps automate the tedious non-design work for architecture firms

Why it’s interesting: It’s not every day you hear about new technology targeting the architectural industry. The founders themselves noted that this market is underserved (though rich in potential). This tool uses AI to help automate tasks that creative types like architects my find tedious like reviewing specifications, drawings, contracts and proposals.

Button Computer

What it does: A wearable AI

Why it’s interesting: Everyone is trying to make wearable AI a thing as the world awaits OpenAI’s product from its acquisition of Johnny Ive’s company. Two former Applers (can I call them that?) have joined together to launch Button, essentially a tiny computer, the founders explained, that’s built for AI. Button connects to apps like email, Slack, and Salesforce and operates them via voice command to perform certain tasks. The next must-have hardware is likely to be some form of AI wearable, so it’s interesting to see what’s emerging.

CodeWisp

What it does: Let’s anyone build games using AI

Why it’s interesting: The founders say all you have to do is tell an AI how to make a game, and it will make the game. That’s fun, creative, exciting! I tried to build games as a child and always found it hard and tedious, but the excitement of imaging designing one never went away. While vibe coding has become the rage for building apps, tools like this make imaginative execution much easier. Maybe this will be the next generation of vibe building.

Crosslayer Labs

What it does: Helps detect website spoofs

Why it’s interesting: The rise of agentic tools means that websites are becoming easier to spoof with the bad guys are not shying away from using this tech to scam people. Crosslayer Labs helps its customers detect and monitor their online setups so they can stay protected against this shade of emerging internet threats.

Doomersion

What it does: Teaches you languages as you doomstroll

Why it’s interesting: We spen

16 of the most interesting startups from YC W'26 Demo Day