CONUS

YC company profile

The AI knowledge layer for medical devices

CONUS structures fragmented medical device information for surgeons. We combine manufacturer documentation, hospital protocols and medical research in one place, giving surgeons and MedTech teams reliable answers across products and procedures.

We already work with leading manufacturers including Johnson & Johnson, Stryker and Zimmer Biomet, and since launching six months ago we’ve gone live in 20 hospitals.

Long term, hospitals will use CONUS to select and order implants across manufacturers.

• YC batch: Fall 2026
• Team size: 3
• Location: Cologne, Germany
• Country: DE
• Status: Active
• Industry: Healthcare
• Stage: Early
• Tags: Healthcare, AI
• YC partner: Grey Baker

Founders

Vincent Paffrath — Founder/CEO

Former PhD researcher on generative and agentic AI with ETH Zurich. Part of the core team driving GenAI adoption across Bosch, from strategy to company-wide rollout. Previously in healthcare strategy consulting.

LinkedIn · X

Maximilian Becker — Founder/CPO

Industrial engineer and former AI researcher at ETH Zurich. Joined Cleansort as engineer #10 and helped scale it from prototype-stage startup to 50+ employees, building across hardware, manufacturing and automation software.

LinkedIn

Alexander Schulz — Founder/CTO

Electrical engineer from RWTH Aachen, Germany. Built high-speed electronics and embedded software for biomedical instruments at Miltenyi Biotec, one of Europe’s largest biotech companies scaled to 5,000+ employees.

LinkedIn

How did your company get started? (i.e., How did the founders meet? How did you come up with the idea? How did you decide to be a founder?)

CONUS started with five chief orthopedic and trauma surgeons who wanted better access to the information their teams need every day. The three of us had already worked together for years, combining backgrounds in AI, biomedical engineering and product development.

How did you decide to apply to Y Combinator? What was your experience applying, going through the batch, and fundraising at demo day?

We met Tom Blomfield at a YC event at ETH Zurich, where he convinced us we were thinking too small about CONUS. That conversation set us on the path to building it full time and applying to YC.

What's the history of your company from getting started until the present day? What were the big inflection points?

We started by bringing surgical information into one platform, then added CONUS Intelligence. Today, we’re live in 20 European hospitals, work with manufacturers including Stryker and Zimmer Biomet, and are expanding into the US.

What is the core problem you are solving? Why is this a big problem? What made you decide to work on it?

Medical device knowledge is scattered across manufacturer PDFs, portals and hospital systems, leaving clinicians and field teams searching disconnected sources or calling someone who knows. As product portfolios and hospital-specific protocols multiply, finding reliable answers becomes harder for both the people using devices and the companies supporting them.

What is your long-term vision? If you truly succeed, what will be different about the world?

We want CONUS to become the knowledge infrastructure connecting medical device companies and clinical teams worldwide. Reliable product and clinical knowledge should be available in seconds, across specialties and wherever people work.

Source: Y Combinator · Retrieved 2026-11-02. Company information is self-reported on YC.