Top accelerator startups

Startups14,448Programs29

14,448 startups · 29 programs

Canary

Active · Adversarial AI that breaks your AI

WebsiteYC profile

Why it ranks

How the rank works
7signal of 100 · rising 7
  • went through YCProgram · this site+4
  • team of 2Team size · YC's directory+2.5

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

Competitors

Developer toolsKoalaLabShared: source codeAlchemist Class 39SeattleStartup →AISauce AIShared: customer facingGoogle AI First Australia 2024Startup →AIMutinyShared: customer facing, agentYC S18New York CityStartup →DataAcquiredVizzlyShared: customer facingYC S22LondonStartup →AIInconvoShared: customer facing, directly, productionYC S23LimerickStartup →OtherRWXShared: coding agent, testing, engineerStartup →
Companies closest to Canary
Company
KoalaLabShared: source codeAlchemist Class 39Not statedDevtools
Sauce AIShared: customer facingGoogle AI First Australia 2024Not statedAI
MutinyShared: customer facing, agentYC S18ActiveAI
VizzlyShared: customer facingYC S22AcquiredData, Devtools
InconvoShared: customer facing, directly, productionYC S23ActiveAI, Data, Devtools
RWXnot in a program hereShared: coding agent, testing, engineerElsewhereOther

Adjacent

OtherDocsAlotShared: customer facingAlchemist Class 37MontrealStartup →OtherBeauShared: customer facingYC S21BarcelonaStartup →OtherAcquiredSameplanShared: customer facingYC S20San FranciscoStartup →AIAcquiredContinueShared: coding agent, sourceYC S23San FranciscoStartup →AI11SightShared: customer facingAlchemist Class 28BerkeleyStartup →
Companies next to Canary
Company
DocsAlotShared: customer facingAlchemist Class 37Not statedOther
BeauShared: customer facingYC S21ActiveOther
SameplanShared: customer facingYC S20AcquiredOther
ContinueShared: coding agent, sourceYC S23AcquiredAI, Devtools
11SightShared: customer facingAlchemist Class 28Not statedAI

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 →AIAemonThe Forward-Deployed AI Research EngineerYC W26San FranciscoStartup →AIAgentic FabriqThe control plane for AI agents.YC W26San FranciscoStartup →AIAlt-XBuilding the best venue for private markets exposure.YC W26Los AngelesStartup →
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
AemonThe Forward-Deployed AI Research Engineerteam of 3hiringActiveAI, Devtools
Agentic FabriqThe control plane for AI agents.team of 2ActiveAI
Alt-XBuilding the best venue for private markets exposure.team of 2ActiveAI, Data

Founders

  • Aakash MahalingamFounder/CEO
  • Viswesh N GFounder/CTO

About Canary

AI coding tools have made developers 100x faster but customer-facing incidents are up 43% YoY, QA hasn't kept up. Canary is the first AI QA engineer that understands your codebase. Instead of relying on flaky DOM scraping or screenshot analysis, Canary reads your source code directly to understand developer intent and catch broken user flows before they hit production. Engineering teams go from weeks of manual testing to 90%+ coverage in days. Built by a team that built coding agents at Windsurf, Cognition and Google.

YC batch
W26 · Winter 2026
Status, per YC
Active
Category
AI, Developer tools
Team size
2
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Founded
2026
Checked
10h ago

Canary in W26: 199 companies, 81% AI

LinkedIn

Canary: questions

Which YC batch was Canary in?

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

Is Canary still active?

Y Combinator lists Canary as active.

Who founded Canary?

Canary's founders, as listed on its YC page: Aakash Mahalingam (Founder/CEO), Viswesh N G (Founder/CTO).

Where is Canary based?

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