Robotics was the biggest surprise. There are 32 robotics/physical AI companies, exactly as many as AI infrastructure companies. A lot of them are working on pretty specific problems: autonomous factories, CNC machining, warehouse work, waste management, solar construction, nuclear inspection, etc.
Some other numbers that stood out:
145 of the 208 companies are tagged AI.
24 are building developer/agent tools. A lot of these aren't really about helping you write code anymore. They're about managing, monitoring, and debugging coding agents.
23 are fintech, 19 healthcare/bio.
Only 5 are consumer companies. Only 3 are crypto/Web3, despite YC explicitly asking for startups in both areas.
The teams are tiny too. The median company has just 2 people, and 146 of the 208 have 3 people or fewer.
And YC is still very SF: 148 of the 208 companies are based there.