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The hard tech renaissance accelerates as YC spotlights space, manufacturing and defense

Y Combinator puts hard tech in the spotlight in its new request for startups list.

On Wednesday, the accelerator released an updated list of ideas it would like to see in applications — with categories like space, manufacturing and defense featured prominently. The accelerator’s biggest exit is still General Motors’ $1 billion purchase of autonomous vehicle company Cruise Automation in 2016. Slodov notes that global tensions and an increased focus on securing supply chains (among other government directives) has helped push more funding to hard tech: “There are much larger trends at play here that back into building companies in manufacturing and hard tech, like being able to actually do that stuff [in the United States],” Slodov said.

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