You asked about Hard Tech
369 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 |
| 2025-06-01 | Tiny Edge AI For Tiny Devices · cactuscompute.com | still up |
| 2026-01-01 | The Networking Layer of AI · pirislabs.io | 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 | 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 |
| 2026-06-01 | AI-native materials discovery powered by unpublished experimental data · 83sciences.ai | still up |
| 2020-01-01 | YCArdis AI Transform your text data into a searchable knowledge graph · ardis.ai | gone |
| 2026-06-01 | YCBaud AI chips for ultra-fast training and inference · baudlabs.ai | still up |
| 2026-06-01 | AI-Native Insurance for Frontier Tech · risklytics.ai | still up |
| 2026-09-01 | YCVorelios AI that simulates physics 1000x faster · vorelios.com | still up |
| 2024-06-01 | Energy efficient chips for AI · zscc.ai | still up |
| 2026-06-01 | Building intellectually curious AI · inductionlabs.com | still up |
| 2016-06-01 | Airo is an AI wearable to track mental health. · airohealth.com | gone |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 2024-06-01 | YCTaxGPT AI tax assistant for professionals and businesses · taxgpt.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 |
| 2021-06-01 | YCLago The AI Native Billing Platform · getlago.com | still up |
| 2023-06-01 | B2B debt collection powered by AI agents · agentcollect.com | still up |
| 2018-01-01 | YCVeriff AI-powered identity verification solution for fraud prevention. · veriff.com | still up |
How this compares
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.