YC's Hard Tech Call+ Market Moves This Week 🚀🤖💸

Today's Mission Brief 🚀

• YC’s Latest Call for Startups in Robotics, Defense, and Manufacturing

• Boom Takes Supersonic Flight

• Unitree’s Humanoids Take Center Stage

• Market Moves This Week

The Next Big Bets: YC’s Latest Call for Startups in Robotics, Defense, and Manufacturing

• YC just put out a Request for Startups with a focus on:

  • New defense technology 🛡️

  • Bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. 🏭

  • New space companies 🚀

  • Applying machine learning to robotics 🤖

  Why It Matters:

  YC sees the same trends we’ve been reporting here at Rad Tech, and if you’re building in these spaces, now’s the time to go hard!

  
  Hard tech is having a massive moment. The robot revolution is accelerating, AI is reshaping automation, and the U.S. is pushing for self-sufficiency in defense and manufacturing. YC sees the trend—and so do we.

  We’ll be keeping a close watch on which startups rise to the occasion. Stay tuned.

  Check it out here https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/ycs-latest-request-for-startups

Boom Takes Supersonic Flight

History was made on Jan. 28, 2025, as Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 became the first civil supersonic jet made in America to break the sound barrier.

💥 New Records Set:
✅ Top Speed: Mach 1.122 (652 KTAS)
✅ Max Altitude: 35,290 ft
✅ Flight Time: 34 minutes
✅ Test Site: Bell X-1 & Black Mountain Supersonic Corridors, Mojave, CA

🚀 Why It Matters:
XB-1 is more than just a test jet—it’s proof that Boom has the technology, talent, and engineering to bring back supersonic commercial travel. With its upcoming Overture jet, Boom aims to cut long-haul flight times in half and reshape the future of aviation.

✈️ Next Stop: The Supersonic Revival.

Unitree’s Humanoids Take Center Stage—Literally

Chinese robotics startup Unitree, best known for its quadruped robot dogs, is now setting its sights on the humanoid robotics revolution—and they just put on one hell of a show to prove it.

🕺 16 humanoid robots from Unitree's H1 series took the stage at China’s Spring Festival Gala, the country’s most-watched television event, performing a fully AI-driven, automated Yangge folk dance alongside human performers.

💡 What’s Next?
Unitree predicts a breakthrough in humanoid capabilities by 2026, with advanced perception, comprehension, and task execution. They expect widespread commercial adoption within the next 3-5 years as AI-driven humanoids move beyond novelty into practical applications.

🚀 Why It Matters:
The humanoid robotics race is heating up. While companies like Tesla, Agility Robotics, and Figure AI dominate headlines, China is rapidly scaling its own humanoid initiatives, pushing for AI-powered automation across industries.

Market Moves This Week 🚀🤖💸

• BOW Raised £4M in Seed Funding
  BOW - UK-based robotics software company, raised £4M in Seed funding.

• Progressive Robotics Closes €1.55M Seed Funding
  Progressive Robotics - Based in Thessaloniki, Greece - raised €1.55M in Seed funding.

• Bonsai Robotics Raises $15M in Series A Funding

  Bonsai Robotics Inc., a San Jose, CA-based developer of physical AI solutions for agriculture applications, raised $15m in Series A funding.

• r4 Raises $1M in Seed Funding

  r4, a Boston, MA-based defense tech startup providing a solution that simplifies the procurement and management of non-production software licenses, raised $1M in Seed funding.

Meme of the Day: