YC’s Summer time 2026 RFS bets on agriculture robots, drone defence, and lunar manufacturing as software program loses its moat

TL;DRY Combinator’s Summer time 2026 Request for Startups lists 15 classes, eight of which require {hardware} or capital, together with agriculture robots, counter-drone defence, area inference chips, lunar manufacturing, and semiconductor provide chain software program. The doc represents probably the most dramatic pivot in YC’s public funding thesis, signalling that the accelerator which constructed its popularity on software program now believes the following decade of billion-dollar outcomes will come from AI utilized to bodily, regulated, and capital-intensive industries. Y Combinator printed its Summer time 2026 Request for Startups in late April, simply days earlier than the appliance deadline. The doc lists 15 classes of firms that YC’s…