INTEL 🧠

_{Meet the 40 startups taking over S2!}

It started with 300+ applications.

Weeks of reviewing, debating, and narrowing it down to the sharpest, boldest startups in SEE. Now, the game is on 🔛 The Founder Games accelerator is in full swing, and Season 2 is rolling on camera.

We’re halfway through.

Every week, founders dive into mentoring sessions, and once a month we meet in Skopje at CoWork 21 to face real-world challenges designed to push them to the edge. Some will crack under pressure. Others will rise, adapt, and prove they have what it takes. That’s how the game goes.

And you’ll see it all unfold this fall when the show airs.

Until then, meet the 40 startups rewriting the rules, chasing funding, and fighting for their shot at Silicon Valley.

The full list of founders & startups who made it to the cut is right here 👇

FRESH FROM THE ROLLERCOASTER 🎢

_{What’s going on BTS?}

• Lexi is hiring an AI developer. [link]

• DAKAEi launches DAKAEi Education to make AI easy and accessible for everyone. [link]

• Mirjana from MJ Hats is looking for introductions to experts in Serbia's cosmetics/beauty retail industry. [link]

• EasyPass partners with Delta Holding to enhance employees’ Business English skills. [link]

• Olga from Neofunction sat down for an interview with Kyle Stanley, one of the most respected dental professionals on the U.S. West Coast. [link]

• Starko integrates an early version of the MCP server extension into its product. [link]

• Daidream launches Mello 2.0 on Android, featuring an AI-powered smart companion that serves as an interactive digital friend for young minds. [link]

• Kikimora is hosting a webinar about Cybersecurity Compliance Decoded: NIS2, CRA, SoA together with SoCyber on April 1st. [register here]

• In her latest interview, Elena shares how Omnilyst stood out from 600+ EU startups. [link]

• Uniqgene has partnered up with Beşiktaş JK to support and empower young athletes in their academy programs! [link]

• iPASy will be participating as an exhibitor at DMEA, Europe’s leading digital tech event in the heart of Berlin. [link]

STARTUP NEWS RADAR 📡

_{What’s happening these days?}

а16z published the latest installment of the Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps, ranking the top 50 AI-first web products and mobile apps and highlighting 17 new companies since the last report in August 2024. These rankings reveal which tools are gaining traction and driving real revenue. The report shows that in just six months, the consumer AI landscape has shifted dramatically. DeepSeek has emerged as a top ChatGPT challenger, AI video models have become more reliable, and "vibe coding" is expanding who can create with AI. The competition is tougher, but winners are sticking around.

Browser Use, a startup from Y Combinator’s 2025 winter batch, has raised $17 million in funding to take its web agent technology to the next level. The round was led by Felicis Ventures, with participation from A Capital, Nexus Ventures, Y Combinator, Paul Graham, Liquid2, SV Angel, Pioneer Fund, and others. Founded by Magnus Müller and Gregor Žunič through ETH Zurich’s Student Project House accelerator, Browser Use gained attention after its integration into Butterfly Effect’s viral Manus tool. The startup simplifies web navigation by breaking down website elements into digestible formats for agents, enabling them to make decisions autonomously. The team built the first demo in just five weeks and quickly open-sourced it, fueling rapid growth and interest.

A study by Procter & Gamble, in collaboration with Harvard Business School, involved 776 professionals across the US and Europe solving product development tasks. Teams using GPT-4 or GPT-4o outperformed those without AI by 39-40%, and individuals using AI saw a 37% improvement, matching non-AI teams. AI-powered teams were three times more likely to deliver top-tier solutions. The study, titled "The Cybernetic Teammate: A Field Experiment on Generative AI Reshaping Teamwork and Expertise," has been published as a working paper.

OpenAI has rolled out AI image generation in ChatGPT, enabling users to create and edit images directly within the chat using GPT-4o. The feature is now available to ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Team, and free users, with Enterprise and Education access coming soon.

Figure AI just leveled up humanoid robotics! Its Figure 02 robot now walks like a human. Thanks to reinforcement learning, it skipped years of trial and error, mastering a natural gait in hours. Trained on thousands of simulated humanoids, it’s built to handle real-world movement with ease.

The company behind Devin - the world’s first AI Engineer, Cognition AI, secures new funding at a nearly $4 billion valuation, a round led by 8VC.

THE STARTUP VAULT 🗃️

_{Founders take note:}

• Build once, apply to any tech role right from your inbox with Leo from OneProfile, your personal AI job agent.

• Streamline and optimize your prompts with PromptGround.

• Craft viral videos in seconds with AI and Zebracat.

*Working on something that fits this category? Reply to this email to be featured.

Hey ChatGPT 🤖

Act as an experienced SEO copywriter, tasked with writing a [n] words long article based on the provided [outline]. Your primary goal is to craft a compelling, informative piece that not only adheres to SEO best practices but also ranks high on search engines for the chosen keywords. The article should be well-researched, engaging to the target audience, and structured in a way that enhances readability (using headings, subheadings, bullet points, etc.). Incorporate relevant keywords naturally throughout the text, without compromising the flow or quality of the content. Ensure that the article answers the questions or solves the problems outlined, providing value to the reader. Additionally, include a strong call-to-action that encourages reader engagement.

Credits: PromptAdvance

Visual of the week 🕵

BEST OF X 🐦

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT 🍿