YC S26 Batch: Hardtech Startups Jump From 8% to 20% of the Cohort
ycombinator · x · 2026-09-19
Stats from Y Combinator's S26 batch show atoms are in: hardtech companies jumped from 8% to 20% of the batch, with broad gains across physical industries:
- Robotics: 1% → 6%
- Industrial manufacturing: 4% → 10%
- Defense: 1% → 5%
- Compute stack (e.g. photonics): 1% → 4%
- Power infrastructure: 1% → 3%
YC, historically a software accelerator, is rapidly tilting toward physical-world startups.
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