Yo's one-word app hit No. 1 on the US App Store, then the company wound down
An app that only sends 'Yo' rose from an eight-hour demo to the top of the US App Store in 2014, then faded; by 2016 the company had dispersed.
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2,000 PUBLISHED CASES · REGULARLY UPDATEDGauth: ByteDance's AI homework app tops US education charts after China's crackdown
China's 2021 tutoring ban pushed ByteDance's Gauth overseas; by 2024 it was a top US education app — then the TikTok ban swept it off the App Store too.
Read the caseGreenomy bets the EU's CSRD mandate creates a reporting market; sold to Position Green
Brussels startup Greenomy built SaaS for EU sustainability reporting, got backed by Euroclear, and was acquired by Position Green as CSRD deadlines hit.
Read the caseType One's stellarator bet: Tennessee issues first fusion license, Infinity One due 2029
Fusion startup Type One Energy wins Tennessee's first fusion-specific license, plans the Infinity One stellarator prototype by 2029 and a 350MW plant.
Read the caseAutoFlight's CarryAll wins the world's first 2-ton eVTOL certification stack
First eVTOL maker to hold a full CAAC type, production and airworthiness stack for a 2-ton cargo aircraft, then the first overseas validation via Indonesia.
Read the caseAktiia's cuffless blood-pressure bet wins FDA's first OTC clearance
Seven years and $100M+ later, Aktiia won FDA's first OTC clearance for a cuffless blood-pressure monitor, opening the US market.
Read the caseRefined Robotics bets wheel-legged delivery bots can climb stairs at 25x energy efficiency
Antler-backed Refined Robotics builds wheel-legged delivery robots claiming 25x energy efficiency that climb stairs, targeting Japan's driver-short logistics.
Read the caseLangfuse bets open-source LLM observability wins; ClickHouse acquires it
Berlin trio pivoted in YC W23 to open-source LLM tracing; $4M seed, 20k GitHub stars, 26M monthly SDK installs, bought by ClickHouse in 2026.
Read the caseSynthesia's AI-avatar bet: enterprise video from text, $100M ARR, $4B valuation
London's Synthesia bet AI avatars would replace studio video for business: 60,000 customers, $100M ARR, and a $200M round at $4B by 2026.
Read the caseLatent Labs' $50M bet: ex-DeepMind scientist uses AI to make biology programmable
Simon Kohl left DeepMind's AlphaFold team to make biology programmable: $10M seed plus $40M Series A for AI protein design, no in-house drugs.
Read the caseOre Energy bets rust-and-air batteries cover Europe's multi-day renewable gaps
Amsterdam's Ore Energy builds iron-air batteries storing power for 24–100 hours; a $43M Series A and a 1 GWh Budget Thuis deal back its days-long-storage bet.
Read the caseTaniHub's farm-supply and lending bet ends in license revocation and arrests
Indonesia's $65.5M-funded agritech bet on farm-to-table commerce and P2P lending collapsed after TaniFund's license was revoked in 2024.
Read the caseBending Spoons' Nasdaq IPO: public money to keep buying and fixing apps
The Milan app acquirer listed on Nasdaq in July 2026, raised about $1.68B including sellers, and closed day one up ~40% at roughly $25B.
Read the caseTreehouse raised $4.75M while betting a 4-day week beats burnout
Online code school Treehouse hit profitability and a $4.75M round in 2012 while its 34-person team worked Monday to Thursday on full salaries.
Read the caseCocos bets simple retail investing scales in Argentina: 2M users, $49.7M, buys a bank
Argentine invest-tech bootstrapped to 2M users and US$49.7M 2025 revenue, bought Banco Voii for a banking license, then acquired Brazil's Warren
Read the caseJoby bets FAA powered-lift rules open air taxis; Toyota invests $894M; Dubai in 2026
Joby bet a new FAA 'powered-lift' category would make electric air taxis real; Toyota put in $894M, first passengers due in Dubai in 2026.
Read the caseFlipper One bets fully open Linux hardware; HN 1,266 pts, ~$350 Kickstarter
After 1M+ Flipper Zeros sold, Flipper Devices bets the next device is a pocket, fully open Linux computer — announced pre-sale, ~$350 Kickstarter planned
Read the caseSolius bets FDA's new OTC UVB category sells home sunlight at $2,995
The FDA created a product code so Solius Pro, a home UVB panel, could be sold without a prescription; Solius raised $23M and took 1,000+ pre-orders.
Read the caseFastBeetle: Kashmir startup beats blackout, wins Amazon & Flipkart contracts
FastBeetle survived Kashmir’s 7‑month internet blackout by using phone orders, then won Amazon & Flipkart last‑mile contracts as rivals couldn’t operate.
Read the caseBolt.new's browser-AI bet: $0 to $40M ARR in five months after a near-death pivot
StackBlitz's seven-year WebContainers bet finally pays off: one viral tweet launches Bolt.new, which hits $40M ARR and ~1M monthly users within five months.
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