The 9 buzziest startups from Y Combinator’s latest Demo Day, according to VCs

TechCrunch asked early-stage investors to identify the buzziest startups from Y Combinator’s newest Demo Day, which skewed more toward deep tech than recent batches. Investors highlighted companies such as Automarine, which proposes floating nuclear-powered data centers, and Dipole Labs, which is developing more efficient optical networking hardware for AI data centers.

The batch reflects how AI infrastructure constraints are pushing startups into capital-intensive areas like energy, cooling, and data movement. More grounded valuations suggest investors are still excited by ambitious “science fiction” ideas, but are applying greater discipline after several overheated startup cycles.