At Y Combinator\u2019s Spring 2025 Demo Day on Wednesday, nearly every presenting startup had something to do with AI \u2014 they\u2019re either developing AI agents or creating tools to facilitate their development. <\/p>\n
Indeed, several founders seem to be taking a page out of the playbook of several successful AI startups: About half a dozen startups were presenting variations of \u201cCursor for X.\u201d For example, Den is building a \u201cCursor for knowledge workers,\u201d and Vesence<\/a> is on its way to make a \u201cCursor for lawyers.\u201d<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t all only about AI, though. We noticed several startups are working on robotics, which seems to be having a bit of a revival at the moment. <\/p>\n Below are some of the startups that caught both investors\u2019 and our attention.<\/p>\n Anvil<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n What it does: <\/strong>SEO for LLMs<\/p>\n Why it\u2019s a fave:<\/strong> How people search for content is changing, with folks using various AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity to find content. Understandably, brands need to find a way to increase their visibility on these platforms. Anvil claims it helps brands measure, optimize, and increase their presence on these AI tools.<\/p>\n Atum Works<\/a><\/p>\n What it does: <\/strong>Builds 3D chips<\/p>\n Why it\u2019s a fave: <\/strong>Transistors aren\u2019t getting smaller as fast as they used to, so Atum\u2019s founders propose the best new way to put more transistors on a chip, and therefore increase processing power, is to stack them in three dimensions. Investors told me that Atum\u2019s vision is so revolutionary that the company has a chance to become the next Nvidia.<\/p>\n Auctor<\/a><\/p>\n What it does:<\/strong> Automates enterprise software implementation<\/p>\n Why it\u2019s a fave: <\/strong>The startup says prominent software vendors like SAP, ServiceNow, AWS, and Box have already reached out to use Auctor\u2019s solution themselves and potentially for help with integrating software at customer sites.<\/p>\n Cactus<\/a><\/p>\n What it does: <\/strong>AI copilot for solopreneurs<\/p>\n Why it\u2019s a fave: <\/strong>Cactus says people who run businesses all by themselves are often too busy to pursue new opportunities. The startup claims its AI bot can take off some of the load by answering calls and accepting payments on your behalf.<\/p>\n Den<\/a><\/p>\n What it does: <\/strong>Cursor for enterprise knowledge workers<\/p>\n Why it\u2019s a fave: <\/strong>Investors told me this is one of the hottest companies in the batch. Den promises its AI agents can replace Slack and Notion, enabling a company\u2019s employees to interact and share information with software tailored to each enterprise\u2019s specific needs. <\/p>\n Eloquent AI<\/a><\/p>\n What it does:<\/strong>\u00a0Automates customer operations with AI<\/p>\n Why it\u2019s a fave: <\/strong>Eloquent says its AI bots can help customers of financial services companies do things like automatically unfreeze bank accounts or add drivers to car insurance policies. In other words, Eloquent promises an end to long waits for human customer service. The startup claims financial companies can deploy its AI near instantly without needing to involve internal engineering teams. \u00a0Eloquent has already raised \u201ca large seed round,\u201d Tugce Bulut, the startup\u2019s co-founder and CEO said on the TBPN<\/a> podcast. \u00a0<\/p>\n LLM Data Company<\/a><\/p>\n What it does: <\/strong>Tooling for evaluation and reinforcement learning<\/p>\n Why it\u2019s a fave: <\/strong>Evaluating all the new AI tools for quality is snowballing into a big, difficult problem. LLM Data Company says it can help with its own LLMs that can evaluate the quality of an AI agent, and it\u2019s already working with customers, including Perplexity.<\/p>\n Scalar Field<\/a><\/p>\n What it does: <\/strong>AI-powered Bloomberg terminal<\/p>\n Why it\u2019s a fave:<\/strong> \u201cTerminals are dashboards and not thinking tools,\u201d says Amandeep Singh, co-founder of Scalar Field. While the startup\u2019s AI agents won\u2019t \u201cthink\u201d for you, it claims they can manipulate financial data with more flexibility than existing financial tools. <\/p>\n Sim Studios<\/a><\/p>\n What it does: <\/strong>The open-source AI agent builder<\/p>\n Why it\u2019s a fave: <\/strong>Sim Studios wants to do for AI agents what Figma did for design: make them incredibly easy to build. Sim Studios users, including customers Epiq, Mercore, and the U.S. Department of Defense, have built AI agents for critical functions such as data transformations, real-world event simulations, and deep research.<\/p>\n Sygaldry<\/a><\/p>\n What it does:<\/strong> Quantum accelerated AI servers to speed up AI training and inference<\/p>\n Why it\u2019s a fave: <\/strong>While a fully functioning quantum computer may still be years away, the industry has been making progress<\/a>. What caught my eye about Sygaldry is that its co-founder and CEO is Chad Rigetti, who founded and took his company public via a SPAC in 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n