2025 is shaping up to be the "year of AI agents". We've put together a list of startup ideas that we think are especially promising— some draw attention to trends that are already in full swing, and some of them are where we think things are going next. ycombinator.com/rfs
Full-stack AI companies @snowmaker If you build a great AI accountant, why sell it to legacy accounting firms when you could start an AI accounting firm and beat them? We think founders will increasingly choose to do just that, and we're excited to fund more of these full-stack AI companies.
More Design Founders @aaron_epstein As AI tools make coding easier, great design and taste matter more than ever. That's why more designers should become founders. Don't just design products – create companies.
Voice AI @gustaf Phone calls with businesses haven’t changed in decades—until now. Voice AI bots, powered by LLMs, are finally as good as humans. It’s the autonomous car moment for voice.
AI for Scientific Advancement @sdianahu AI is transforming how physical things are made. Many scientific tools haven’t changed in decades, but test-time compute is now enabling new startups to solve complex problems in fields like chemistry, biology, and materials science.
AI Personal Assistant @t_blom It’s high time we had AI personal assistants. Imagine an AI that has perfect understanding of your emails, projects, and scheduling preferences — and can take actions on your behalf. Apply to YC if you’re working on this idea!
AI Personal Tutor for Everyone @harjtaggar The latest multimodal and reasoning models make it possible to create an AI personal tutor that’s capable of explaining complicated concepts to anyone who’s interested in learning them. This could really change the world. We’d love to see you apply to YC if you’re working on this idea.
Healthcare AI @gustaf US healthcare spend is now more than $4T a year, but over $1T of that is spent on manual admin tasks. New agents and LLMs can automate this.
AI Residential Security @bosmeny Legacy home security companies are a $20B joke. Meanwhile, AI is already preventing crimes in office buildings–think facial recognition, loitering alerts, even virtual guards to yell at intruders. We think the first startup to bring mass-market AI to consumer home security can win the market and make everyone safer.
Software Tools for Robots @sdianahu Robotics hasn't had its ChatGPT moment yet, but we think it’s almost here. With the rapid improvements in foundation models, it's finally possible to make robots that have human-level perception and judgment. That’s been the missing piece. We're interested in funding people building software tools to help others make robots.
@ycombinator @bosmeny A lot of low hanging fruit on this one. Events need to be a lot smarter, we can totally automate voice interventions, etc. Deep Sentinel was close but too early. You could deliver the same value with something much simpler and cheaper today. x.com/ConwayAnderson…
@ycombinator @bosmeny I’d pay double my monthly fee right now to have AI auto turn on and off my alarm based on my movements. Literally double.
@ycombinator @bosmeny An AI guard dog would be cool.
@ycombinator @bosmeny @bosmeny what if I'm building not just for homes but for stores and businesses
@ycombinator @bosmeny We’re working on AI residential security! Few pilot neighbourhoods already in motion. We have AI drones, AI self driving cars, etc. roaming neighbourhoods overnight from 8pm to 6am. Residents love it and don’t mind paying as a neighbourhood.
