Cognitio Labs YC Application
Cognitio Labs went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2023 batch as a Industrials company. Below: what the company does, who founded it, and its application to YC, reconstructed question by question in the real YC form.
- YC batch
- Summer 2023
- Industry
- Industrials
- Status
- Active
- Launched
- 2023
Founders
Diva Avaya SharmaFounder
What Cognitio Labs does
Cognitio Labs is an applied AI research lab building real-time compliance infrastructure for regulated supply chains, serving as the first line of defense against recalls and regulatory failure. When a food contamination event happens, time is everything. Today, traceability relies on spreadsheets, PDFs, and manual logs, turning recalls into multi-day investigations. Entire product categories get destroyed, brands lose trust, and a single recall can cost $10M to $100M+. Why now: The FDA’s FSMA 204 rule requires companies to produce standardized digital traceability records within 24 hours by 2028, impacting over 60,000 U.S. food facilities. The regulatory bar is rising, but the infrastructure to meet it does not exist. Our first product line uses sensors and AI to automatically capture key events such as temperature, handling, and lot-level movements across production, storage, and transit. We convert fragmented operational data into standardized, FSMA 204-compliant traceability records in real time. Compliance is generated as operations happen, not after. This becomes the first line of defense by enabling faster recalls, reducing spoilage, eliminating manual compliance work, and protecting contracts, insurance, and brand equity. We are starting with food and expanding into other regulated, high-risk supply chains.
Cognitio Labs's YC application, reconstructed
Y Combinator application
Cognitio Labs, Summer 2023 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.
- Founders2
- Company7
- Progress7
- Idea4
- Equity3
- Curious2
- Batch Preference1
Company
Cognitio Labs
Automating FDA-grade Traceability with AI
We build a real-time compliance infrastructure for supply chains regulated by the FDA. Our sensors and AI automatically capture temperature, handling, and lot movement events during production, storage, and transit. We convert this scattered operational data into FSMA 204-compliant digital traceability records as the process happens. This lets companies produce regulatory-required records within 24 hours, cutting out manual logs and spreadsheets.
We live in San Francisco, CA and plan for the company to remain based here after YC.
San Francisco has the technical talent and proximity to food supply chain companies that we serve. Being here helps us stay close to partners and customers grappling with FSMA 204 compliance.
21 more answers in the full application
Founders, Progress, Idea, Equity, Curious, Batch Preference are in the full version. Create a free account to open it in YC Insights, next to every other YC batch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this the real Cognitio Labs YC application?
No. Y Combinator keeps submitted applications private. This is a reconstruction: the real YC form questions, answered from Cognitio Labs's public data (launch notes, founder backgrounds, product description). It shows how a company like Cognitio Labs would present itself to YC, not the text they submitted.
What YC batch was Cognitio Labs in?
Cognitio Labs was part of the Y Combinator Summer 2023 batch.
Who founded Cognitio Labs?
Cognitio Labs was founded by Diva Avaya Sharma.
What does Cognitio Labs do?
Automating FDA-grade Traceability Requirements with Sensors and AI.
How do I read the full reconstructed application?
Create a free Round Funded account. The full 26-answer version of Cognitio Labs's application, and every other YC batch, is in YC Insights.
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