Conifer
New accelerator entry · 2026-07-08 · the record
In their words
There are thousands of models, providers, and harnesses, each with its own pricing and strengths, leaving an overwhelming number of choices when it comes to managing token spend and intelligence. Conifer uses intelligent routing and orchestration logic to handle the full path of each query: model selection, provider choice, and cache management. It all runs inside your existing harness, so tools like Claude Code and Codex work without changing your setup. By centralizing where inference occurs, Conifer lets companies save on their inference bill while leaving teams free to focus on what they are building.
What the record says
Co-founder at Conifer (YC S26). Previously co-founded The HeartCheck Foundation, scaling free hypertension screenings to 20+ barbershops and over 10,000 individuals. Engineered an ML-driven computer vision pipeline using pose estimation for early-onset ALS and Parkinson's detection. Former clinical researcher at the Dell Med Institute of Vascular Surgery and UTHSC, specializing in hematopoetic stem cell transplantation, achieving infiltration levels >90% in mouse models.
Founder at Conifer. Engineering researcher at Princeton, accelerating multi-modal inference on edge devices and designing physics simulation software for coupled laser reservoirs and machine learning with physical neural networks. Previously built custom edge AI devices for RF-based brain injury modeling at DoW, and helped engineer the world record holding fastest electric speedboat at PES.
Founders, titles and bios as the company published them. Photographs are our own copies of the ones on that record, so they do not break when the original link expires.
Against the 209 companies on file from Summer 2026. Median team 2, largest 30.
The nearest companies on file from the same batch, side by side with this one.
| Company | Batch | Sectors | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frontier Computing | Summer 2026 | Artificial Intelligence, Hard Tech, Hardware | 2026-08-31 |
| Ethos Space Resources | Summer 2026 | Hard Tech, Exascale Computing, Energy | 2026-08-23 |
| Spectre Intelligence | Summer 2026 | Biotech, Investing, Trading | 2026-08-22 |
| Edgerun | Summer 2026 | Robotics, Defense | 2026-08-21 |
| Allia Health | Summer 2026 | Artificial Intelligence, Healthcare, Mental Health | 2026-08-19 |
| Conifer (this page) | Summer 2026 | Artificial Intelligence, Developer Tools, B2B | 2026-07-08 |
Click a column heading to sort. Comparison is against records held here, not against every company that exists.
The full profile
The rest of this profile is open on any paid or trial plan
It costs no credits. It is a plan check and nothing else.
- Source Check — verify Michael Jeffords's other claims against the registers that hold them.
- INVEST — compare this company against the peers above, on the numbers.
- RECRUIT — see who is already on the team.
- Press Requests — connect with Michael Jeffords for a story.
You land back on this company when you are in.
Not ready to upgrade? Keep this one in view instead.
Watchlist ConiferYou get an alert in MentionFox the next time this company shows up.
Is this you?
If you're behind Conifer: acceptance into a YC batch is one of the few weeks a young company gets looked up by people who matter — investors, other founders, press. FoxPlug turns the commits, deploys, and releases you're already making into that story automatically, so anyone who looks finds something current. FoxChat puts a guide on your own site so the people YC's own page just sent you don't read one line and leave.
Sourced from the company's Y Combinator directory entry. Figures are read directly from the source record; names have not been matched against other people.