You asked about Hard Tech
373 people built something like it. 25 are gone.
That is 7% of the ones whose fate we could settle, against 23% across the whole register. 14 were acquired.
| Launched | What it was | Today |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-01-01 | Physical AI for Warehouses and Factories · fluxauto.ai | still up |
| 2022-01-01 | IndustrialNext builds the AI brain for manufacturing –… · industrialnext.ai | still up |
| 2026-01-01 | The Networking Layer of AI · pirislabs.io | still up |
| 2025-06-01 | Tiny Edge AI For Tiny Devices · cactuscompute.com | still up |
| 2025-01-01 | AI performance monitoring for factory workers · optifye.ai | still up |
| 2024-09-01 | YCInnate Personal AI Robots · innate.bot | still up |
| 2021-06-01 | YCPotion AI for product formulation · potion.ai | still up |
| 2018-01-01 | iPhone-based driver monitoring for commercial fleets. · observantai.com | still up |
| 2024-06-01 | AI that operates quantum computers for scientific discovery · conductorquantum.com | still up |
| 2026-06-01 | AI-native materials discovery powered by unpublished experimental data · 83sciences.ai | still up |
| 2026-06-01 | YCBaud AI chips for ultra-fast training and inference · baudlabs.ai | still up |
| 2020-01-01 | YCArdis AI Transform your text data into a searchable knowledge graph · ardis.ai | gone |
| 2026-06-01 | YCDaqstra AI-native test infrastructure layer for hardware companies · daqstra.com | still up |
| 2026-06-01 | YCStoa The market behind AI hardware. · stoaexchange.com | still up |
| 2026-09-01 | YCVorelios AI that simulates physics 1000x faster · vorelios.com | still up |
| 2026-06-01 | Building intellectually curious AI · inductionlabs.com | still up |
| 2024-06-01 | Energy efficient chips for AI · zscc.ai | still up |
| 2016-06-01 | Airo is an AI wearable to track mental health. · airohealth.com | gone |
| 2026-06-01 | AI-Native Insurance for Frontier Tech · risklytics.ai | still up |
| 2026-09-01 | YCHemlock Force-sensing wristband for training robotic AI · hemlock.info | still up |
| 2026-06-01 | AI-controlled optical switching for AI clusters · dipolelabs.com | still up |
| 2015-01-01 | AI-powered technology enabler and digital transformer of American… · grubmarket.com | still up |
| 2015-06-01 | YCIronclad AI-powered contract management · ironcladapp.com | still up |
| 2024-01-01 | YCLegora The AI workspace for lawyers · legora.com | still up |
| 2024-06-01 | Corgi is building an AI financial infrastructure company · corgi.com | still up |
| 2017-06-01 | YCJerry Jerry is building the AI agent to manage all your physical assets. · jerry.ai | still up |
| 2020-06-01 | YCTaktile Transform your decision-making with reliable AI agents in weeks, not… · taktile.com | still up |
| 2017-06-01 | AI-powered checkout for retail. · standard.ai | still up |
| 2019-06-01 | YCCoLab Human and AI design review for hardware · colabsoftware.com | still up |
| 2020-06-01 | AI to engage employees, predict attrition and automate HR/IT support · infeedo.ai | still up |
| 2021-01-01 | YCPibit.ai The fastest path from submission to better decisions. · pibit.ai | still up |
| 2022-01-27 | riku.ai | still up |
| 2023-01-01 | YCNumeral The AI-native sales tax solution. · numeral.com | still up |
| 2023-06-01 | YCCampfire The AI Native ERP for the fastest growing companies. · campfire.ai | still up |
| 2021-01-01 | YCCodingal Leading online after-school for kids & teens to learn AI & coding · codingal.com | still up |
| 2020-01-01 | YCAIOS Building AI-native infrastructure for the next era of care. · aiosmedical.com | still up |
| 2023-06-27 | flux.ai | still up |
| 2022-01-01 | Construction's AI Platform · permitflow.com | still up |
| 2023-01-01 | YCWarp AI-native Employee Management Platform for High-Growth Companies · warp.co | still up |
| 2017-06-01 | AI-Powered Building Management · vergesense.com | still up |
| 2022-06-01 | YCJuicebox AI-powered talent sourcing for recruiters · juicebox.ai | still up |
| 2022-06-01 | YCAiPrise AI-powered Global Compliance Platform · aiprise.com | still up |
| 2021-06-01 | YCConfido AI-enabled financial automation and intelligence for CPG Brands · confidotech.com | still up |
| 2022-01-01 | Using AI to help dementia patients age at home · craniometrix.com | still up |
| 2018-06-01 | YCRegology AI Agents for Regulatory Compliance · regology.com | acquired |
| 2020-01-01 | YCDatasaur Datasaur builds private AI/agents for enterprise/government · datasaur.ai | still up |
| 2022-01-01 | Plug-and-play AI platform with sensors and dashboards that makes… · iotflows.com | still up |
| 2021-06-01 | YCSwipe Super AI Accountant for SMBs · getswipe.in | still up |
| 2022-01-01 | YCGovDash AI platform to win and run government contracts · govdash.com | still up |
| 2020-06-01 | Contract and negotiation AI built for lawyers · draftwise.com | still up |
| 2024-06-01 | AI Agents for collections · domu.ai | still up |
| 2021-01-01 | AI-driven online tech school for busy professionals · turingcollege.com | still up |
| 2022-01-01 | YCArintra Enterprise-grade AI for revenue assurance · arintra.com | still up |
| 2025-01-01 | YCSpott AI-native ATS/CRM for recruiting firms · spott.io | still up |
| 2021-06-01 | YCSully.ai Autonomous team of AI agents that runs the entire hospital operations · sully.ai | still up |
| 2022-06-01 | YCPaces Agentic AI for Power Projects and AI Infrastructure · paces.com | still up |
| 2023-06-01 | YCVetRec AI Scribe for veterinarians. Saving time and improving patient care. · vetrec.io | still up |
| 2022-01-01 | YCComplif Compliance tools & AI agents for financial companies · complif.com | still up |
| 2024-06-01 | YCTaxGPT AI tax assistant for professionals and businesses · taxgpt.com | still up |
| 2021-06-01 | YCLago The AI Native Billing Platform · getlago.com | still up |
How this compares
Y Combinator reports its own outcomes, including acquisitions. The other two are judged by asking the domain, so they are not measured the same way and are never averaged together.
Older launches have had longer to die, so this slope is expected. A year that broke it would mean something is wrong with the checking.
The register re-probes every domain it holds. Some that answered last month stop answering. We send that list — what went quiet, and what it was — once a month. Nothing else.
How this was made. Show HN entries are every post from 2021 to 2023 with at least five points that linked to its own domain; code hosts and free hosting are excluded, because a repository outlives the effort behind it. Product Hunt entries needed 100 votes — a far higher bar, so they are the promoted top slice rather than a like-for-like sample. Both are judged by asking the domain whether it still answers: gone means it no longer resolves, refuses the connection, serves a parking page, or says plainly that it shut down. An HTTP error is not counted as gone — a server answering 404 is one somebody still pays for, and an audit of 25 gone-calls found two such sites alive with only a moved homepage. Y Combinator entries use the status YC publishes itself, which is why only those can say acquired. Squatted domains — a lapsed name now serving somebody else's site — are not detected, so these figures run slightly low.