Candor

We help companies win government funding with AI

Y CombinatorWinter 2025ActiveGovernmentArtificial IntelligenceGovTech

What they do

Problem

Defense and deeptech startups struggle to find, pursue, and win government procurement and funding opportunities due to complex, resource-intensive processes.

Solution

Candor uses AI agents embedded in the procurement workflow to surface relevant government opportunities and actively pursue them on a company’s behalf.

Who it's for

Defense and deeptech companies (especially startups) seeking to win U.S. government contracts and funding.

Founders

Marcus Zimmerman

Founder

CEO of Candor. Prev & Stanford. Helped run Stanford's DEFCON Technology and National Security Network. Worked on a Defense incubator as a National Security Innovation Fellow. Product/Growth at an ex-YC Startup. Angel Investor in various startups, particularly Defense & GovTech

Ethne Laude

Founder

Co-founder and CTO at Candor. Previously interned as a quant trader at Morgan Stanley building low-latency trading systems and as a research scholar at the Space Force. Studied CS systems and Math at Stanford, researching compiling sparse tensor applications to domain-specific hardware. Worked on building a DoD PEO Directory as a National Security Innovation Scholar.