Here’s one of the most reliable ways to take advantage of big new investment trends early:
Follow the investors who consistently spot winners before anyone else.
In the startup world, one of those investors is Y Combinator (YC). YC isn’t just another venture fund. It’s one of the world’s most influential and successful startup accelerators, having backed companies including Airbnb, Stripe, and Coinbase at their earliest stages.
And right now, YC is sending a clear signal about where the next wave of massive value creation will happen.
It’s in what I call AI Picks and Shovels, the infrastructure that makes AI work.
Let me explain — then I’ll show you how to jump on this trend yourself for a potential 41-bagger.
Why Y Combinator Matters
YC gives startups $500,000 and puts them through a 3-month boot camp that features intense mentoring, plus hands-on help with product development and growth strategies. In exchange, it receives 7% of the company.
Since its founding in 2005, YC has funded about 90 startups that have gone on to become billion-dollar success stories. That list includes:
- Stripe
- Airbnb
- Coinbase
- Brex
- Instacart
- Dropbox
- DoorDash
- Cruise
YC knows how to spot winners early — and how to make millions, even billions, doing it.
And now, you can tag along.
YC’s New Focus: AI Infrastructure
YC runs several boot camps each year. Ahead of each one, it tips its hand, giving guidance to the startup community about what kinds of companies it wants to apply.
Why does that matter?
Because YC believes the next billion-dollar companies will be created in specific sectors — and it wants startups in those sectors knocking on its door.
For the most recent cohort, one theme stood out above all others: AI infrastructure.
According to CB Insights’ breakdown of YC’s latest batch, the overwhelming majority of companies are AI-native — but the most interesting ones aren’t consumer apps. Instead, they’re the tools, platforms, and systems that sit underneath the AI apps and make them usable at scale.
Let’s look at three examples that show what I mean.
Hyperspell: Memory for AI Agents
Sub-sector: AI Agent Infrastructure
One of the biggest problems with today’s AI agents is that they’re forgetful.
They can respond brilliantly in the moment, but they lack persistent memory. That makes them terrible at long-running tasks, workflows, or acting like true digital coworkers.
Hyperspell solves this by building a memory layer for AI agents. It connects agents to real-world data sources like Gmail, Slack, Notion, and Drive, allowing them to remember context over time.
This is foundational technology. If AI agents are going to manage projects, coordinate work, or operate autonomously, they need memory. Hyperspell provides exactly that, making it a classic “picks and shovels” play.
Castari: Deploying AI Agents at Scale
Sub-sector: AI Deployment & DevOps
If you’ve ever deployed software, you know the hardest part isn’t writing the code — it’s running it securely and reliably in production.
AI agents are no different.
Castari enables developers to deploy agents into secure, auto-scaling environments in seconds, with built-in observability and sandboxing.
This is the kind of infrastructure that doesn’t get headlines. But it becomes indispensable once companies move beyond demos and start relying on AI in real-world operations.
Locus: Payments for Autonomous AI
Sub-sector: AI Financial Infrastructure
This one hints at where AI is headed next.
As AI agents become more autonomous, they won’t just recommend actions — they’ll execute them. That includes making purchases, paying invoices, and managing budgets.
But today’s financial systems weren’t built for non-human actors.
Locus is building payment infrastructure designed specifically for AI agents — with controls, permissions, audit trails, and safeguards.
If AI is going to participate meaningfully in the economy, this kind of trust layer will be essential. And once again, it’s pure infrastructure — the rails beneath the applications.
Why “Follow the Leader” Works
None of these companies are flashy consumer brands. That’s the point.
They’re embedded infrastructure, designed to be used by thousands of AI builders and enterprises. If AI keeps expanding — and all signs point to the fact that it will — these “picks and shovels” companies will benefit, no matter which apps or models win.
And when Y Combinator starts backing wave after wave of startups in this category, it’s a powerful signal. This is “follow the leader” investing in action.
The Opportunity for Everyday Investors
YC’s founders and partners get a front-row seat to frontier technology.
By watching where YC focuses, you don’t have to guess where the next big opportunities might emerge. You can follow the trail.
This is one of the ways we help Crowdability’s readers get positioned early — long before Wall Street catches on.
Happy Investing
PS: I’m currently recommending an AI infrastructure company to members of my premium research service, Private Market Profits. This pre-IPO company is backed by Nvidia, as well as the CIA’s venture fund, In-Q-Tel. This is a chance to follow not one but two strategic investors — and potentially earn returns of 41x over the coming year. To learn more, click here »
Best Regards,
Founder
Crowdability.com
