Requests for startups are a method for buyers to speak what would possibly work and the place they’re actively on the lookout for startup groups. It’s not excellent after all, and the vast majority of alternatives will come from entrepreneurs and never from buyers, but it surely’s an excellent barometer of the present Zeitgeist in tech. This can be a observe as much as a comparable put up I printed in 2024 and 2025 half 1 and half 2.
AI startups continued to draw document funding quantities in 2025. For instance take a look at these 55 startups that raised over $100M or extra in 2025. For the Spring 2026 batch, Y Combinator highlights a elementary shift: AI-native firms can now be constructed “sooner, cheaper, and with extra ambition than ever”. Whereas earlier years centered on coding assistants, the main target has moved upstream to AI-native workflows, new monetary primitives, and modernised industrial techniques.
- Cursor for Product Managers: YC is on the lookout for AI-native techniques that assist groups resolve what to construct, somewhat than simply how to construct it. Whereas instruments like Cursor help with coding, there’s a hole for instruments that synthesize buyer suggestions, suggest options, and create product necessities, successfully closing the loop on product discovery.
- AI-Native Hedge Funds: There is a chance to construct the subsequent era of quantitative funds utilizing swarms of AI brokers. As an alternative of simply including AI to present methods, these funds would use brokers to investigate monetary filings and earnings calls to develop fully new buying and selling methods.
- AI-Native Businesses: YC sees potential for businesses that function with software-like margins through the use of AI to supply the work somewhat than simply promoting instruments to shoppers. Examples embody design corporations, advert businesses, or regulation corporations that use AI to ship completed merchandise immediately and at scale.
- Stablecoin Monetary Companies: With laws just like the GENIUS and CLARITY Acts opening a window, YC is interested by startups that bridge the hole between decentralized finance (DeFi) and conventional finance. This includes constructing compliant monetary providers, corresponding to yield-bearing accounts or cross-border infrastructure, that make the most of stablecoins.
- AI for Authorities: As AI instruments enable the non-public sector to fill out types and functions sooner, authorities businesses want corresponding AI instruments to course of this inflow of information effectively. This sector affords “sticky” clients and huge contracts for startups keen to navigate authorities gross sales.
- Trendy Steel Mills: There’s a request for “software-defined” mills, significantly in aluminum and metal, that make the most of AI-driven planning and fashionable automation to cut back lead occasions and power prices. The aim is to make home metallic manufacturing cheaper, extra versatile, and extra worthwhile by changing legacy techniques.
- AI Steering for Bodily Work: YC is on the lookout for startups that use multimodal fashions and wearables (like sensible glasses) to supply real-time teaching for bodily duties. This know-how would enable staff in fields like healthcare or manufacturing to “see, motive, and information” their actions, successfully upskilling the workforce instantly.
A16Z’s Speedrun
Andreessen Horowitz is specializing in the “shopper AI renaissance” and artistic instruments, with a SR006 cohort working by way of April 2026:
- Vibe Creation Platforms: Shifting from AI chat to “Vibe Coding” the place brokers construct total apps or visible tales (video games, video) from a immediate.
- AI Companions in Cozy Simulations: Shifting past chatbots into, persistent, multi-modal, agent-driven worlds (much like a 3D Stardew Valley with AI).
- AI-Native Training: The primary AI-native universities.
- Multiplayer AI: The shift from single-user AI instruments to collaborative, multi-player AI brokers.
- “The Yr of Me”: AI that completely personalizes experiences to the person person.
Conviction VC & Sarah Guo
Somewhat than a conventional static checklist, Conviction VC’s 2026 outlook emphasises the transition from “AI talkers” to “AI doers”. The theme for 2026 is Yr of the Agent Harness:
- The Agent Harness: Startups constructing the infrastructure (the “harness”) that enables AI brokers to function reliably and autonomously in manufacturing environments.
- Economically Helpful Evals: Shifting past easy benchmarks to analysis techniques that show real-world enterprise ROI.
- 3D Generative AI: Techniques that may generate useful 3D belongings and environments with out the “gamble” of unpredictable generative outputs.
- Power-Environment friendly AI: Startups centered on “intelligence per watt,” squeezing most functionality out of restricted power items.
I’ll proceed to replace this checklist with further requests for startups printed in 2026 by main buyers.
I am a former basic associate at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google’s first bodily hub for startups.
I am additionally the founding father of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing collectively the startup ecosystem on biking challenges in assist of Room to Learn. Since inception in 2012 we have constructed 11 faculties and 50 libraries within the growing world.
