What top investors are looking to fund
A curated snapshot of 38 Request for Startups (RFS) themes from Y Combinator, a16z, Bessemer, Primary Ventures, and leading European public funds. Use these to sharpen your thesis or find your next founder-market fit.
Y Combinator (YC) — Core RFS List
AI-Native Service Companies
Build tech-enabled services that sell completed work (accounting, legal, customer support) rather than software seats, reaching 80–90% gross margins through autonomous AI agents.
Company Brain
Enterprise memory and execution layers that unify institutional knowledge across Slack, Gmail, Notion, and codebase tools to serve as an operational intelligence engine.
Inference Chips for Agent Workflows
Silicon architectures specialized for high-burst, multi-step agent reasoning loops rather than standard training clusters.
Counter-Swarm Defense
Low-cost, mass-manufacturable hardware and software solutions to detect, jam, or physically intercept autonomous drone swarms.
AI for Low-Pesticide Agriculture
Agricultural robotics, computer vision, and biological control platforms designed to drastically lower chemical application in farming.
AI Personalized Medicine
Platforms leveraging agents, EHR data, and cheap multiomics to deliver N-of-1 diagnostics and personalized therapeutic plans.
Electronics in Space
Radiation-hardened, thermal-optimized edge computing, sensor, and chip designs built for deployment in low-Earth orbit and beyond.
Dynamic Software Interfaces
Generative UI and adaptive frontend frameworks that assemble user experiences on the fly based on intent rather than fixed layouts.
Hardware Supply Chain Modernization
Software platforms automating component sourcing, bill of materials management, and vendor logistics for hardware startups.
AI-Native Discovery Engines
Search and research interfaces designed specifically to synthesize complex scientific literature and experimental data into novel hypotheses.
SaaS Challengers
Dynamic, AI-driven replacements for traditional legacy CRMs, ERPs, and issue trackers that remove static database tables.
DevTools for AI Agents
Debugging, sandboxing, inspection, and monitoring software constructed specifically for non-deterministic multi-agent networks.
Compute at Sea
Maritime floating data centers using ocean water cooling and offshore renewable energy to lower AI compute costs.
Vertical AI for Compliance
Automated domain-specific AI workflows built for heavy regulation industries such as environmental permitting, insurance, and maritime law.
Energy Infrastructure for AI
Novel micro-reactors, grid-scale batteries, and geothermal power installations directly connected to high-density compute clusters.
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z & Speedrun)
Come for the Agent, Stay for the Network
B2B AI procurement agents that aggregate transactions across thousands of SMB buyers to create network-driven marketplaces.
Tools for the 100x Solo Founder
Operational AI platforms (AI CFO, AI support lead, AI supply manager) allowing one individual to manage a multi-million dollar revenue firm.
Service-as-a-Software
Monetization engines charging per completed business outcome (e.g., successful debt recovery, closed deal) rather than monthly user seats.
Industrial & Physical AI
Vision models and reinforcement learning designed specifically for factory automation, warehouse logistics, and heavy manufacturing robotics.
AI Guidance for Physical Work
Smart eyewear or camera feeds that stream real-time instructions to field technicians, mechanics, and surgeons during complex procedures.
Multimodal Enterprise Ingestion
Data infrastructure that transforms raw video feeds, audio recordings, and physical documents into clean vector datasets for AI models.
Death of the Prompt Box
Ambient AI systems that observe screen context and user workflows to act preemptively without explicit prompt inputs.
AI Procurement Agents for Healthcare Staffing
Vertical automated brokers matching nurse shifts and clinical staffing demand directly with suppliers in real time.
Construction Subcontracting Agents
AI platforms that parse blueprints and manage bidding, scheduling, and invoicing across trade contractors automatically.
AI Supply Chain Planner for E-Commerce
Autonomous stocking engines that predict inventory depletion and trigger supplier purchase orders without human intervention.
Primary Venture Partners
Reliability Layer for Enterprise Agents
Testing, evaluation, and guardrail software that guarantees deterministic outputs for LLM agent deployments in critical environments.
Maintenance Infrastructure for AI-Generated Code
Software tools to continuously refactor, document, security-audit, and patch codebases written primarily by coding agents.
Identity & Payments for the Agentic Economy
Cryptographic protocols, stablecoin rails, and identity verification designed specifically for bot-to-bot commercial transactions.
Planning Tools for Usage-Based Pricing
Financial forecasting platforms replacing traditional subscription revenue models with dynamic token and consumption metric tracking.
Catastrophic Risk Simulation
Real-time climate, geopolitical, and supply-chain exposure modeling engines built for property insurance underwriters and enterprise risk teams.
Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP)
Vertical AI Systems of Action
Domain-tailored workflow platforms that execute full vertical processes in healthcare, legal, and insurance rather than providing assistance.
Cybersecurity for Agentic Protocols
Defense engines preventing prompt injection, credential theft, and unauthorized API execution across enterprise AI networks.
Synthetic Biology Manufacturing Platforms
Scale-up fermentation and lab infrastructure enabling high-yield bio-manufacturing of materials and proteins.
LLM Cost Optimization Infrastructure
Routing and caching layers that dynamically balance model quality, latency, and token cost across inference providers.
European & Public Institutional Calls
EIC Accelerator: Quantum Technology & Hardware
Non-dilutive grant (€2.5M) and equity (€15M) calls for startups building quantum processors, sensors, and encryption systems.
EIC Accelerator: Clean Energy & Storage Scale-ups
Public funding calls focused on novel grid storage, green hydrogen production, and carbon capture infrastructure.
BaseLaunch: Biopharma Therapeutics
Financing calls for biopharma founders launching early clinical and pre-clinical therapeutic programs in Europe.
EU-LAC Digital Cooperation Calls
Challenge calls for digital startups establishing joint pilots between Latin America, the Caribbean, and European markets.