Startups — Page 7
Companies to watch, momentum, milestones.
- Y Combinator and Together AI Launch Dedicated GPU Cluster for Startups
The accelerator and AI platform partner to give early-stage companies improved access to scarce compute resources, a critical bottleneck for model training and scaling.
- Dispatch targets 2027 flight for a refurbishable orbital return vehicle
The two-person YC startup plans to carry 30 kilograms, replace the heat shield after landing and fly the primary spacecraft again.
- 10 US space startups moving from funded hardware to operational missions by 2027
Launch, orbital logistics, satellite production and lunar mobility companies face a year of costly, measurable execution tests.
- LlamaIndex backs You.com's live-data agent hackathon with builder credits
LlamaIndex, Jerry Liu's document-agent startup, is one of 11 partners supporting the July 24th event at San Francisco's AWS Builder Loft.
- Zoox recalls 105 robotaxis after one entered a smoke-covered fire scene
The software fix tests Jesse Levinson's ground-up autonomy bet as regulators press robotaxi operators to handle emergencies like human drivers.
- REO Trucks draws 12,173 reservations for a $21,500 pickup without a prototype
Founder Zach De Bernardi is using demand for a simple gas truck to recruit the suppliers, engineers and capital needed to build it.
- Startup Spotlight: Novo Space builds modular computers for satellite constellations
Co-founders Rodrigo Diez and Facundo Jorge are building modular flight computers designed to reduce repeated engineering work across satellite missions.
- Anthropic is rumored to be pursuing robot AI developer Physical Intelligence
Robert Scoble cited an unnamed investor and said the deal had not closed; neither side has announced a transaction.
- Saronic picks South Texas for $3.2 billion autonomous shipyard
The Austin defense startup plans Port Alpha at the Port of Brownsville after raising $1.75 billion at a $9.25 billion valuation.
- Sierra Space wins $798 million SDA contract for missile-tracking satellites
The 18-satellite award puts Fatih and Eren Ozmen's space company deeper into the U.S. military's proliferated low-Earth-orbit architecture.
- Motive Force uses Folk Computer to make the case for research funding
Oana Olteanu's July 10th essay casts Omar Rizwan and Andres Cuervo's paper-based system as a rebuttal to agent-startup sameness.
- Dexa pushes to revive Kroger drone delivery after BVLOS bottleneck
Beth Flippo says Dexa is again talking with Kroger after a 2021 pilot collapsed under costly line-of-sight rules.
- Reflect Orbital wins FCC approval for its first sunlight-beaming satellite test
Ben Nowack and Tristan Semmelhack can test Earendil-1, but the ruling exposes a regulatory gap around commercial light from orbit.
- Known and 222 are rebuilding dating around the actual date
Celeste Amadon, Asher Allen and Keyan Kazemian are betting Gen Z wants fewer feeds and more real-world introductions.
- Netflix circles Letterboxd as founders face the indie network exit test
Tiny owns 60% of Letterboxd, but co-founders Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow still hold 40% of the film platform.
- TibaRay moves Galactica cancer-treatment systems into manufacturing
The Fremont medtech says its first upright radiotherapy installation is planned for Mayo Clinic later in 2026.
- UCSD's humanoid surgery test puts cheap robots in da Vinci's lane
Michael Yip's ARClab team used two teleoperated Unitree G1s on a live pig, turning a commodity humanoid into a surgical question.
- YC-backed Moss is hiring for the SDK layer of real-time AI search
Sri Raghu Malireddi is betting retrieval latency will decide which voice AI products feel usable.
- Phia's cookie-stuffing fight puts its affiliate model on trial
Bloomberg found the shopping extension could overwrite referral codes; TechCrunch says Impact.com has suspended Phia.
- Winnie Lai's Auriga Space turns its satellite catapult into a hypersonic test business
The Orange County company signed Axiom Materials as a pilot customer while its orbital launcher remains a longer-range bet.
- BETA Technologies' federal eVTOL flights put Kyle Clark's medical-aircraft bet in the air
The Amazon-backed electric aircraft maker carried United Therapeutics organs across Maryland and Virginia in the first federal pilot flights.
- Electra clears an FAA certification gate for its 150-foot runway aircraft
The Manassas startup says the FAA has set the EL9's certification basis, moving its nine-passenger hybrid-electric plane into compliance planning.
- CXMT's $4.3 billion IPO tests Zhu Yiming's China memory bet
The Hefei DRAM maker is seeking China's largest A-share IPO of 2026 as AI demand and U.S. controls push Beijing toward domestic memory.
- Kalshi wants to take crypto-style perpetual futures into gold, FX and energy
The prediction market founded by Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara is asking regulators to widen a May crypto approval into traditional markets.