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 CASOS PUBLICADOS · ATUALIZADOS REGULARMENTEGauth: 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.
Ler o casoGreenomy 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.
Ler o casoType 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.
Ler o casoAutoFlight'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.
Ler o casoAktiia'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.
Ler o casoRefined 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.
Ler o casoLangfuse 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.
Ler o casoSynthesia'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.
Ler o casoLatent 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.
Ler o casoOre 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.
Ler o casoTaniHub'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.
Ler o casoBending 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.
Ler o casoTreehouse 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.
Ler o casoCocos 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
Ler o casoJoby 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.
Ler o casoFlipper 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
Ler o casoSolius 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.
Ler o casoFastBeetle: 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.
Ler o casoBolt.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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