The 11 standout startups from YC’s Demo Day, according to VCs

techCrunch spoke to investors to find the hottest startups in the Spring 2026 YC batch. Some of them commanded valuations of over $175 million, VCs said.

TechCrunch spoke to eight investors to determine which ones were the hottest companies in this batch — both the ones they were watching and the startups they heard other VCs couldn’t get enough of. This list consists primarily of companies that had been flagged by at least two investors as the buzziest in the batch.  That excitement translated into larger rounds and massive price tags for some of these companies. Just when we thought YC valuations couldn’t get any higher, they surpassed all expectations. This batch had at least two startups fetching valuations of $175 million or more. Investors were also clearly willing to pay a premium for proven, repeat founders. What it’s building: AI-powered counter-drone systems  Why it’s a fav: The Russia-Ukraine conflict is showing just how lethal small drones are, with the systems now accounting for roughly 80% of casualties. Existing counter-drone solutions are expensive and often useless at jamming swarms of drones flying at low altitudes. 9 Mothers claims that it developed a more “affordable” robot that can track and kill drones traveling at 60 miles per hour. Founded in 2024, the startup has already booked $1.6 million in sales, with a single contract expected to expand to $35 million later this year. The company is also promising investors that it can reach a pipeline of $1 billion in contracts. That potential coupled with a clear need had VCs eager to invest, at a valuation of upward of $200 million, one VC told us. At that valuation, 9 Mothers is not only the most highly valued startup of the batch, but also potentially one of the most valuable in YC history. (9 Mothers did not respond to our request for comment.) What it’s building: A tool that provides digital twin environments for testing AI agents Why it’s a fav: AI helps software engineers generate more code at much faster speeds. That code needs to be tested, but traditional testing environments, also known as sandboxes, cannot be created fast enough to keep up. Arga Labs solves this bottleneck by instantly spinning up “digital twins” of a company’s software, allowing AI agents to safely test their code before it reaches production.