You asked about Synthetic Biology
53 people built something like it. 5 are gone.
That is 10% of the ones whose fate we could settle, against 23% across the whole register. 3 were acquired.
| Launched | What it was | Today |
|---|---|---|
| 2014-06-01 | Our mission is to make biology easier to engineer. · ginkgobioworks.com | acquired |
| 2016-01-01 | We make robots for biologists. · opentrons.com | still up |
| 2020-01-01 | Next-generation DNA synthesis using enzymes · ansabio.com | still up |
| 2016-01-01 | YCLygos Lygos engineers yeast to convert sugar into high-value industrial… · lygos.com | still up |
| 2020-01-01 | maximizing biomass on low quality land · livingcarbon.com | still up |
| 2020-01-01 | Makes guilt-free plastics from food waste · genecis.co | still up |
| 2022-01-01 | YCInvert Data analytics software for biomanufacturing. · invertbio.com | still up |
| 2021-06-01 | YCAdaptyv We're building fully automated labs for protein engineering · adaptyvbio.com | still up |
| 2021-06-01 | Unlocking the next generation of mRNA medicines · sensible.bio | still up |
| 2018-01-01 | YCZBiotics ZBiotics makes genetically engineered probiotics. · zbiotics.com | still up |
| 2020-01-01 | We create activating antibodies to treat diseases others can’t. · abalonebio.com | still up |
| 2022-01-01 | Potent, durable, and redosable non-viral genetic medicines · engagebio.com | acquired |
| 2022-06-01 | We recycle plastic using engineered enzymes · birchbiosciences.com | still up |
| 2021-06-01 | YCEpinoma We engineer proteins that control the operating system of biology. · epinoma.com | still up |
| 2024-01-01 | Building programmable therapeutics for the immune system · granzabio.com | still up |
| 2024-01-01 | Elevated mRNA for transformative medicines. · parcelbio.com | still up |
| 2021-06-01 | A platform to make artificial viruses as cancer therapeutics. · humanegenomics.com | still up |
| 2023-01-01 | Gen-AI Designed Enzymes for Pharmaceutical Innovation · pando.bio | still up |
| 2024-06-01 | Enzyme design models. · ligo.bio | still up |
| 2026-06-01 | YCMolagri Resistance free pesticides. · molagri.com | still up |
| 2020-06-01 | Helping Plastic Surgeons Rebuild Fat · insomabio.com | still up |
| 2023-01-01 | We teach your immune system to attack and cure cancer · modularit.bio | still up |
| 2016-06-01 | YCSynvivia Synvivia applies chemical control over cell behavior · synvivia.com | still up |
| 2024-06-01 | YCACX Next-generation biocides for sustainable agriculture at scale · acxtherapeutics.com | still up |
| 2024-06-01 | The AI scientist for always-on biodefense · aminoanalytica.com | still up |
| 2025-06-01 | AI infrastructure for biosecurity · twentytwo.bio | still up |
| 2024-06-01 | YC1849 bio Engineering microbes for miners to unlock billions in trapped metal · 1849.bio | still up |
| 2023-06-01 | Genetically engineering plants for disease resistance. · ohmicbiosciences.com | still up |
| 2024-06-01 | Genetically engineered viruses that teach your immune system to kill… · kopra.bio | still up |
| 2022-06-01 | High quality mRNA for therapeutic application · cisternabx.com | still up |
| 2022-06-01 | Enabling Tissue Targeting of Therapies · eugittx.com | still up |
| 2024-01-01 | "If-then" conditional logic for protein drugs · synsorybio.com | still up |
| 2026-06-01 | YCTareBio Vaccines for any cancer or infection in weeks. · tarebio.com | still up |
| 2020-01-01 | Foundation models and autonomous chambers for plant biology · urbankisaan.com | still up |
| 2023-06-01 | The cheapest way to borrow money · syntheticfi.com | still up |
| 2024-01-01 | YCego AI applied research lab building synthetic sapience; human-like AI · egoai.com | still up |
| 2021-06-01 | The foundation for the next era of biology · outputbio.com | still up |
| 2021-06-01 | Programmable biology company for psychoactive effect design · mindstate.design | still up |
| 2018-06-01 | Operating systems for biology labs · radix.bio | gone |
| 2024-06-01 | Defect detection for manufacturing built from CAD and synthetic data. · bucket.bot | still up |
| 2020-01-01 | We generate synthetic data for computer vision models. · zumolabs.ai | gone |
| 2018-06-01 | From screen recordings to desktop automations using program synthesis · warpdrive.co | gone |
| 2024-01-01 | Breakthrough medicines unlocking the biology of heme · velorumtx.com | still up |
| 2021-01-01 | Synthetic data for better vision. · sbxrobotics.com | gone |
| 2025-06-01 | YCNovaflow The AI data analyst for biology labs · novaflow.ai | still up |
| 2022-06-01 | YCNeosync Neosync is an open-source anonymization and synthetic data platform. · neosync.dev | acquired |
| 2015-01-01 | YCDabble A synthetic photo studio for e-commerce · dabble.so | gone |
| 2025-06-01 | YCSapien Synthetic populations for decisions · asksapien.ai | still up |
| 2026-01-01 | YCCellType The agentic drug company. We simulate human biology. · celltype.com | still up |
| 2026-01-01 | Infrastructure for Autonomous Science · syntheticsciences.ai | still up |
| 2024-06-01 | Converting biology into digital molecular maps · biocartesian.com | still up |
| 2026-01-01 | Multimodal foundation models to predict uncollected patient biology · strandai.com | still up |
| 2025-06-01 | Synthetic Videos to Simulate Real Users · syntheticsociety.ai | still up |
How this compares
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.