From unknown to $48B valuations: Bay Area AI startups' 18-month sprint
zhyncs42 · x · 2026-10-01
The author recounts arriving in the Bay Area in February last year to judge a hackathon hosted by Etched, Mercor and Cognition — none of which they had heard of at the time. Just 18 months later, all three have become some of the hottest startups in the region, with valuations reaching as high as $48B, illustrating the staggering pace of value creation in this AI cycle.
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