hardware intelligence YC Application
San Francisco
hardware intelligence went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2026 batch as a B2B 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 2026
- Industry
- B2BEngineering, Product and Design
- Location
- San Francisco
- Team size
- 2
- Status
- Active
- Launched
- 2026
Founders
Athreya AnandFounder/CEO
Rishov SarkarFounder/CTO
What hardware intelligence does
Hardware Intelligence makes chip design tools that cut simulation and debugging time by an order of magnitude. When a chip test fails, engineers need a recording of every internal signal - a waveform. We’ve developed WaveZip, which captures waveforms 500x smaller with 200x less overhead. We’re Rishov Sarkar (Georgia Tech PhD in chip simulation) and Athreya Anand (ex-Google, M.S. ML/AI).
hardware intelligence's YC application, reconstructed
Y Combinator application
hardware intelligence, Summer 2026 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.
- Founders2
- Company7
- Progress7
- Idea4
- Equity3
- Curious2
- Batch Preference1
Company
hardware intelligence
AI tools for the chips your AI runs on
We're building chip design tools to radically speed up simulation and debugging. Our product, WaveZip, lets hardware engineers capture and analyze chip waveforms with a 500x reduction in data size and 200x lower overhead. This means when a chip test fails, they actually have the recording they need - without choking on huge files or lost performance.
We are based in San Francisco, CA, and will stay here after YC.
San Francisco is where both of us are and where the chip and AI ecosystem is strongest. Our customers, networks, and future team are here.
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 hardware intelligence YC application?
No. Y Combinator keeps submitted applications private. This is a reconstruction: the real YC form questions, answered from hardware intelligence's public data (launch notes, founder backgrounds, product description). It shows how a company like hardware intelligence would present itself to YC, not the text they submitted.
What YC batch was hardware intelligence in?
hardware intelligence was part of the Y Combinator Summer 2026 batch.
Who founded hardware intelligence?
hardware intelligence was founded by Athreya Anand, Rishov Sarkar.
What does hardware intelligence do?
AI tools for the chips your AI runs on
How do I read the full reconstructed application?
Create a free Round Funded account. The full 26-answer version of hardware intelligence's application, and every other YC batch, is in YC Insights.
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