🧭 Y Combinator lists what it wants to fund in spring 2026

Y Combinator updated its Requests for Startups for the spring 2026 batch. The list highlights areas where YC actively wants new companies.

🖱 Cursor for Product Managers
AI tools that turn user interviews and product data into clear product decisions and feature plans.

🖱 AI-Native Hedge Funds
Funds built around AI agents that research filings, synthesize signals, and execute trades from the ground up.

🖱 AI-Native Agencies
Design, marketing, or legal agencies rebuilt as software-first businesses with scalable margins.

🖱 Stablecoin Financial Services
Payments, investing, and cross-border money movement built on stablecoins while regulation is still open.

🖱 AI for Government
Tools that help governments handle growing workloads with lower cost and faster execution.

🖱 Modern Metal Mills
Automation and energy optimization for outdated steel and metal manufacturing systems.

🖱 AI Guidance for Physical Work
Real-time AI assistance for workers using cameras and step-by-step instructions on the job.

🖱 Large Spatial Models
AI systems that can reason about 2D and 3D space and physical manipulation.

🖱 Infra for Government Fraud Hunters
Platforms that organize whistleblower data, messy documents, and complex corporate structures.

🖱 Make LLMs Easy to Train
Better tooling for large datasets and end-to-end LLM training workflows.

The list signals where YC expects new categories to emerge next.

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💪 GitLab co-founder turns cancer treatment into a founder-mode operation

Sid Sijbrandij became a billionaire after GitLab went public in fall 2021. A year later, in 2022, he was diagnosed with a spinal tumor. Surgery and chemotherapy led to remission. In 2024, the cancer returned and standard treatment paths were exhausted.

Sijbrandij stepped away from GitLab and switched to what Paul Graham calls founder mode. He built a dedicated team around his own treatment, including an external CEO, computational biology experts, and a scientific advisory board.

🖱 Built a personal medical knowledge base exceeding 1,000 pages
🖱 Tested experimental drugs, including therapies developed for other cancers
🖱 Solved bottlenecks in tissue sampling and cryopreservation
🖱 Supported biotech companies developing drugs relevant to his case

The work expanded treatment options from almost none to dozens. After therapy, the tumor shrank enough for surgery. Cancer is currently not detectable, and the team continues working to prevent relapse.

Startup execution, applied to staying alive.

Full article

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🧠 Meta says its Avocado model is its most advanced pretraining yet

🖱 Meta internally described a new model codenamed Avocado as the company’s most advanced pretrained model so far.

🖱 The claim appears in an internal memo seen by The Information and written by Megan Foo from Meta Superintelligence Labs.

🖱 According to the memo, Avocado outperformed leading open models in internal benchmarks.

🖱 Despite having no post-training, it is already competitive with top fine-tuned systems.

The comparison focus on open models suggests pretraining is largely complete. Meta previously signaled it may move away from open weights, which makes Avocado’s positioning notable.

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🗂 Microsoft builds a data marketplace for AI training

🖱 Microsoft is creating a marketplace where rights holders can price their content for AI training.

🖱 AI companies would license data legally instead of scraping it.

🖱 Partners include Vox Media, The Associated Press, and Condé Nast. Smaller independent publishers are also expected to participate.

A pilot launch is planned soon. The model turns training data into a priced input rather than a legal gray zone.

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🔽 Anthropic rattles software and finance stocks

Markets reacted sharply after reports around new Anthropic tooling, with a broad selloff across software, finance, and asset management names.

Bloomberg data showed heavy pressure across the sector:
🖱 Around $285B wiped out across affected stocks
🖱 Goldman’s software basket down about 6%, the largest drop since April
🖱 Financial services index down roughly 7%
🖱 Nasdaq at one point down 2.4%

The trigger was not a new model, but the release of 11 plugins for Claude Cowork on Jan 30. These tools target full workflows like financial modeling, legal research, and sales operations, rather than plugging into existing software.

Stocks tied to those workflows sold off hard:
🖱 RELX: -14%
🖱 Wolters Kluwer: -13%
🖱 Infosys: -7%
🖱 TCS: -6%

Wall Street has started calling it a “SaaSpocalypse.” The concern is that foundation model companies are moving beyond APIs and into owning the application layer itself.

For markets built on selling automation, this is no longer theoretical.

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🚀 19-year-old founder from Tajikistan gets into Y Combinator with a solo startup

🖱 Y Combinator accepted Wayco into its Winter 2026 batch. The founder is 19-year-old Iqbol Temirkhojaev from Tajikistan. He is building an AI assistant for law firms that handles client intake around the clock.

🖱 Wayco raised $1.5M in a single week. Investor demand reached $3.5M. Backers include Inovo, the Sequoia Scout Fund, the founder of Kayak, and early investors from ElevenLabs and Groq.

🖱 Temirkhojaev has been building early. He started competitive programming at 11, launched his first startup at 13, sold it at 14, and received a state medal at 16.

A rare YC solo founder story, coming from far outside the usual startup hubs.

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🥷 Forbes details Masha Drokova’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein

🖱 American Forbes profiled Masha Drokova (now Bucher), calling her one of the best-known female investors in Silicon Valley. Her fund Day One Ventures reportedly manages $450M with 22 unicorns, including xAI and World Orb.

🖱 The same story focuses on her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein after his emails became public. In 2017, she began working as his publicist, helping with reputation work. The correspondence later turned personal.

🖱 Emails describe Prada gifts, luxury salon visits in New York, stays at Four Seasons, long calls, Skype exchanges, and Epstein requesting nude photos. In 2019 she wrote that she “would never have created her fund” without his ideas and knowledge.

🖱 Forbes says there is no clear proof Epstein funded Day One, but she did ask him to introduce her to “the right Russian oligarchs” while she was looking for investors.

🖱 The emails also suggest she introduced entrepreneurs to Epstein, with names including Sergey Belousov. One founder said she presented Epstein as a wealthy philanthropist while refusing to reveal his identity until the meeting happened.

Her last email to Epstein was sent 11 days before his 2019 arrest.

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Bro makes billionaires look poor

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She makes $4 million a year selling a popcorn alternative.

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💰 This man printed $250,000,000 in his basement and served only 6 weeks in prison

Frank Bourassa didn’t just make “fake” money he made it better than the government

🖱 He spent two years studying every security feature of the $20 bill, even tricking a paper mill into making the exact cotton linen blend used by the U.S. Treasury

🖱 When the Secret Service finally caught him, he was facing 60 years in prison but Frank had a backup

🖱 $200 million in hidden cash he hadn't spent yet

🖱 He offered the Feds a deal they couldn’t refuse: The location of his secret stash in exchange for his freedom

He served just 6 weeks and paid a fine of $1,350

That’s basically the cost of a TV for a $250 million crime

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Why Harvard creates more Billionaires than any other school.

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“Being very early and being wrong look exactly the same 99% of the time.”

— Seth Klarman

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💰 Crypto.com CEO buys AI.com for $70M

🖱 Kris Marszalek, founder and CEO of Crypto.com, bought the AI.com domain for about $70M paid in crypto. It is the largest publicly disclosed domain sale to date.

🖱 The project is positioned as a consumer AI platform, starting with a personal AI agent for messaging, app use, and stock trading. The focus is simplicity for non-technical users.

🖱 Marszalek calls it a long-term bet on AI as a major tech wave over the next 10 to 20 years. He says he already received large offers for the domain but chose to keep it to build a brand instead.

Big money for a single URL.
Branding wars in AI are heating up fast.

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📣 Wall Street keeps saying Big Tech capex is “peaking”

The companies themselves are saying the opposite.

For 2026, internal capex plans are blowing past analyst expectations:

🖱 Amazon $AMZN: ~$200B vs ~$150B expected
🖱 Google $GOOGL: ~$185B vs ~$120B
🖱 Microsoft $MSFT: ~$140B vs ~$115B
🖱 Meta $META: ~$135B vs ~$110B

This isn’t defensive spending.
This is an all-in bet on AI infrastructure, data centers, and compute.

When the people writing the cheques are more bullish than Wall Street…
it usually matters.

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📈 6 ways investors are getting exposure to Anthropic

Anthropic, the company behind Claude, is still private but already valued around $350B after recent funding rounds. Capital is moving fast, even before an IPO. Here are the main routes investors are using today.

1️⃣ Buying shares on secondary markets

Accredited investors can buy Anthropic shares directly from existing holders on private secondary platforms. This is the closest thing to owning the stock pre-IPO, but access is limited and liquidity is thin.

2️⃣ Venture funds with Anthropic exposure

Some venture funds include Anthropic as part of a broader portfolio of private tech companies. This lowers single-company risk, but Anthropic usually represents only a small percentage of the fund.

3️⃣ ARK Venture Fund

Cathie Wood’s ARK Venture Fund holds Anthropic alongside other private AI leaders. It offers exposure without direct ownership, though fees are higher and Anthropic is not the core position.

4️⃣ Investing through Big Tech stakeholders

Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia have all invested billions into Anthropic, mostly tied to cloud and compute deals. Buying these public stocks gives indirect exposure, mixed with their much larger core businesses.

5️⃣ Broad AI exposure via public markets

Some investors choose a basket approach through AI-focused ETFs or major AI builders. This spreads risk across the sector but removes any pure Anthropic bet.

6️⃣ Waiting for the IPO

Reports suggest Anthropic has discussed a possible IPO in 2026, but nothing is confirmed. This remains the cleanest option for many investors, assuming timing and valuation make sense.

The market is already pricing Anthropic like a public giant. The IPO would just make it official.

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"Intelligent people make decisions based on opportunity costs."

- Charlie Munger

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📈 Chinese unicorns now out-earn US peers by $166B a year

🖱 Chinese unicorns founded since 2010 generate $706B in annual revenue. That is $166B more than comparable US companies.

🖱 Despite this scale, China still has no public company with a market cap above $1T. Private firms like ByteDance are often cited as exceptions, but they are not publicly traded.

The gap highlights a mismatch between revenue strength and public market outcomes. Over time, this difference may narrow as more Chinese firms mature or list.

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🌙SpaceX delays Mars mission to focus on the Moon

🖱 SpaceX has pushed back its planned 2026 Mars mission. The company is now prioritizing a lunar mission for NASA, according to people familiar with the decision.

🖱 SpaceX is targeting March 2027 for an uncrewed Starship landing on the Moon. The shift aligns with NASA’s Artemis program, where SpaceX is contracted to deliver astronauts to the lunar surface using a modified Starship.

🖱 The move comes as SpaceX leans into bigger bets. After acquiring xAI, the combined business was valued at $1.25T, and an IPO is being discussed for as early as this summer.

Mars is still the long-term goal. For now, the Moon is back at the front of the roadmap.

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