Cajal

Active

Scaling formal verification to accelerate scientific discovery

Winter 2026Founded 20252 peopleSan Francisco, CA, USA

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AI insightcan contain mistakes

Formal Verification AISaaSQuantum computing teams, finance researchers, mathematical institutionsLow competition

Moat

Lean-based formal verification and AI mathematics at superhuman scale; grounding AI in provable truth is rare and defensible.

Key risk

Ultra-niche market; long sales cycles; unclear path to broad adoption outside quantum/finance.

Why now

Quantum computing advancing; finance seeking formal rigor; AI mathematical reasoning capabilities maturing.

Competitors

Emerging space, academic research

About

Cajal (YC W26) is massively scaling formal verification to accelerate scientific discovery. We deploy superhuman AI mathematicians to high-impact applied domains, starting with quantum computing and finance. We do this with Lean - a framework that allows us to formally verify any mathematical statement, grounding AI in truth and validating the tools discovered by our systems.

Founders · 2

Pedro NobreFounder

Working on formal verification and AI.

LinkedIn ↗

Luke JohnstonFounder

Oxford🎓 Cambridge

Working on formal verification and AI at Cajal (W26). Background in machine learning and neuroscience at research labs in Oxford/Cambridge/UCL. Learn more at https://caj.al/ and feel free to get in touch at luke@caj.al

LinkedIn ↗X ↗

Launch

Launched on Y Combinator · Feb 2026

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Cajal deploys AI mathematicians to high-impact applied domains, starting with quantum computing and finance.

Cajal deploys AI agents to autonomously discover and formalize new tools in applied mathematics using Lean, starting with quantum computing and finance, with Tau, a multi-agent system that produces machine-verified proofs to guarantee correctness.