Y Combinator hosted its Summer 2025 Demo Day last week, showcasing the latest batch of over 160 startups.
As with recent batches, the majority of startups presented AI-centric solutions. However, a clear evolution was evident. Instead of “AI-powered” products, many companies are now building AI agents or the infrastructure and tools needed to develop them. For instance, this batch had a flurry of voice AI solutions and new businesses focused on helping others monetize the “AI economy” with ads and marketing tools.
We spoke with a handful of YC-focused investors to learn which startups they found most interesting and which generated the highest investment demand.
Below are the most frequently mentioned ones:
What it does: Stripe for AI startups
Why it’s a fave: Many AI startups use complex pricing models that often blend a flat subscription fee per seat with usage-based charges, credits, and various add-on costs. Managing complex AI pricing on Stripe is a time-consuming, manual process. That’s why Autumn developed an open-source infrastructure that simplifies Stripe integration for AI startups. The company says its technology is already used by hundreds of AI apps and 40 YC startups. Given Stripe’s dominance in payments and the explosive growth of the AI market, could a specialized billing solution for AI be the next major fintech success story?
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What it does: Builds Vercel for AI agents
Why it’s a fave: Just as Vercel helps developers deploy and host startups, Dedalus Labs claims its platform automates the infrastructure for building AI agents, cutting hours of coding down to a few clicks. The company handles complex tasks like autoscaling and load balancing, which it says makes agent deployment fast and simple.
What it does: crowdsource rankings of vibe coded designs
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