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14,448 startups · 29 programs

Aemon

Active · The Forward-Deployed AI Research Engineer

WebsiteYC profile

Why it ranks

How the rank works
9signal of 100 · rising 9
  • went through YCProgram · this site+4
  • team of 3Team size · YC's directory+3.1
  • hiringHiring · Titles (titles.fru.dev), YC+2

A sum of public facts, not a judgement and not investment advice.

Competitors

AIPegasiShared: forward deployedNeoStartup →AIAI TheresaShared: forward deployed, engineerSPC 2026San FranciscoStartup →AIAutoComputerShared: forward deployed, researchYC F24San FranciscoStartup →AIHessianShared: forward deployed, engineeringYC X26LondonStartup →AIThird Moment ResearchShared: autonomous researchNeoStartup →OtherDeepMindShared: google deepmind, researchStartup →
Companies closest to Aemon
Company
PegasiShared: forward deployedNeo Not statedAI
AI TheresaShared: forward deployed, engineerSPC 2026Not statedAI
AutoComputerShared: forward deployed, researchYC F24ActiveAI
HessianShared: forward deployed, engineeringYC X26ActiveAI
Third Moment ResearchShared: autonomous researchNeo Not statedAI
DeepMindnot in a program hereShared: google deepmind, researchElsewhereOther

Adjacent

AIMarkerShared: forward deployed, engineerYC S26San FranciscoStartup →AIAntinuousShared: autonomous research, compute, testYC X26San FranciscoStartup →AIEkpaShared: autonomous researchYC S26BostonStartup →OtherKhotan (formerly Pollinate)Shared: forward deployed, engineerYC W26BrisbaneStartup →AIHumworkShared: human expert, engineerYC X26San FranciscoStartup →
Companies next to Aemon
Company
MarkerShared: forward deployed, engineerYC S26ActiveAI
AntinuousShared: autonomous research, compute, testYC X26ActiveAI
EkpaShared: autonomous researchYC S26ActiveAI
Khotan (formerly Pollinate)Shared: forward deployed, engineerYC W26ActiveOther
HumworkShared: human expert, engineerYC X26ActiveAI, Devtools

Also from W26 in AI

All of W26
AI/dev/fast/dev/fast is the AI-native code forgeYC W26San FranciscoStartup →AI10x ScienceThe AI-native platform for next-generation protein characterization.YC W26San FranciscoStartup →AI21stUI building blocks for the agentic internetYC W26San FranciscoStartup →AIAgentic FabriqThe control plane for AI agents.YC W26San FranciscoStartup →AIAlt-XBuilding the best venue for private markets exposure.YC W26Los AngelesStartup →AIAnchorheadEvals for frontier research agentsYC W26San FranciscoStartup →
Company
/dev/fast/dev/fast is the AI-native code forgeteam of 4ActiveAI, Devtools
10x ScienceThe AI-native platform for next-generation protein characterization.team of 5hiringActiveAI
21stUI building blocks for the agentic internetteam of 3ActiveAI, Devtools
Agentic FabriqThe control plane for AI agents.team of 2ActiveAI
Alt-XBuilding the best venue for private markets exposure.team of 2ActiveAI, Data
AnchorheadEvals for frontier research agentsActiveAI, Devtools

Founders

  • Richard ZhouFounder/CEO
  • Ray XuFounder/CTO

About Aemon

Aemon is the first autonomous research engineer that delivers state-of-the-art solutions to your engineering problems. It generates, tests, and evolves thousands of approaches at machine speed to discover optimal solutions beyond what human experts can find. Aemon already set a new world record on an NP-hard math optimization problem with <$10 of compute, beating the previous record set by Google DeepMind in 2025. Ray and Richard (twin brothers) dropped out of UWaterloo and UIUC to build Aemon. They published at top AI conferences like ICLR and EMNLP before turning 20.

YC batch
W26 · Winter 2026
Status, per YC
Active
Category
AI, Developer tools
Team size
3
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Founded
2025
Checked
6h ago

Aemon in W26: 199 companies, 81% AI

LinkedIn

Aemon: questions

Which YC batch was Aemon in?

Aemon was in Y Combinator's Winter 2026 batch (W26).

Is Aemon still active?

Y Combinator lists Aemon as active.

Who founded Aemon?

Aemon's founders, as listed on its YC page: Richard Zhou (Founder/CEO), Ray Xu (Founder/CTO).

Where is Aemon based?

Aemon lists San Francisco, CA, USA as its location on YC's directory.