Wardstone is a Y Combinator F25 defense startup building a global constellation of satellites equipped with space-based interceptors to kinetically destroy hypersonic and ballistic missiles. Founded by brothers Sebastian and Tobias Fischer, the company is pursuing America's Golden Dome initiative - a layered missile defense system that can engage threats in space before they reach US soil. With a $5M seed round and three successful automated intercept demonstrations during YC, Wardstone is positioning itself as a next-generation missile defense contractor targeting a $40B/year market.
Scale AI is a San Francisco-based AI infrastructure company founded in 2016 by Alexandr Wang and Lucy Guo. It provides the data engine, evaluation tools, and AI deployment platforms that power the world's leading AI labs, Fortune 500 enterprises, and US government agencies. By combining a massive distributed workforce with proprietary tooling, Scale accelerates AI development through high-quality data labeling, RLHF, model evaluation, and agentic platforms — making it one of the most consequential picks-and-shovels companies in the modern AI boom, with a $29B valuation as of mid-2025.