Assistive Tech Startups funded by Y Combinator (YC) 2026

AnnieCannons' mission is to train, prepare, and connect human trafficking survivors of sustainable careers in tech. Through a trauma-informed coding and workforce development program, AnnieCannons trains survivors to become professional software developers and AI engineers and places them in paid apprenticeships with partner companies through a model that converts at over 80%, with median starting salaries of $75,000 or more. The program is tailored for people who have faced compounded barriers including poverty, housing insecurity, interrupted education, and trauma across multiple systems.

GoGoGrandparent is a virtual retirement community that offers rides, meals, medication, groceries, home maintenance & community for older adults living at home. All services are accessible via regular phone call (no special technology required) and all service providers are vetted & screened. All requests are monitored for greater than 99% reliability, many of our clients rely on us to live years longer in their home.

We're a SaaS company with emphasis on Service, and we have a mission: to improve the happiness of scientists and the quality of their research. HappiLabs provides a service called the Virtual Lab Manager. We offer PhD level, former scientists to help with safety and regulatory, product research, lab shopping, negotiating, purchasing, inventory, and bookkeeping. Our software tools, such as the ETA Dashboard and the HappiApp, make it easy to request purchases, manage inventory, and check-in packages upon delivery. HappiLabs also has one of the most extensive databases of product prices. These tools, and experienced humans, make us the smartest lab managers in the world. Another way to think of us is an outsourced purchasing department and/or a personal assistant for your scientists. Based in Chicago, and some presence in San Francisco. If you're a newly funded PI, a startup, small biotech, or work with purchasing as a big pharma/biotech, you can use our help.