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- AI Watermark Removal Making $400 MRR, 3D Artists Tool For Character Generation, AND Largest UI Kit For Designers
AI Watermark Removal Making $400 MRR, 3D Artists Tool For Character Generation, AND Largest UI Kit For Designers
Chris Bulen & Daniel Ebohon
May 19, 2026
Hi everyone đź‘‹
It’s Chris & Daniel, from Startups.fyi.
Welcome to this week’s edition—where we break down what’s new in startups and how AI agents are quietly changing the way products are built, helping small teams execute research, outreach, and creation at scale.
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Alright, let’s jump into this week’s discoveries 👇
Customer.io is the customer engagement platform for tech-savvy marketers.
Trigger email, push, in-app, SMS, webhooks, and more, all powered by real-time product and behavioral data. Build sophisticated journeys with branching logic, run experiments quickly, and iterate without constant engineering lift.
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Today: 6 successful startups across 6 different categories.
Startups FYI Spotlight
✨ Designer-Inspired Scents
Here is a fragrance brand offering scents inspired by well-known designer perfumes. They work with in-house perfumers and currently have over 50 options across different scent families. (Pre-revenue)
🎥 Video Stories for Your Website
This simple-to-use tool helps you showcase your product better on your website. Instead of explaining your product with text, it helps you explain your products with short videos and stories. (Currently generating $150/month)
♿ AI-powered web accessibility
Here is an easy-to-use accessibility platform that audits websites for ADA/WCAG issues and provides a widget to help users with different accessibility needs. It also monitors changes over time and flags new issues as they appear. (Generating $300 MRR for the founding team)
Customer.io is the customer engagement platform for tech-savvy marketers.
Thousands of founders rely on Customer.io for onboarding, activation, and lifecycle messaging. Join the Customer.io Startup Program and get up to 12 months free.
🖼️ AI Watermark Remover
Discover this AI tool for removing watermarks from images. It handles text, logos, and more complicated overlay patterns. (Generating $400 MRR for the solo-founder)
🧱 AI Assistant for Blender
Discover another AI tool that serves as an assistant designed to work with Blender. It helps with generating 3D characters, scenes, and other assets. It’s based in San Francisco. (Generating $2,000 MRR)
🧩 Figma UI Kit + React Components
Here is a large Figma design kit created by a solo founder in Melbourne. It grew out of frustration with kits that were too limited or inconsistent. Today it includes UI components, an icon set, and a matching React/Tailwind library. (It is bootstrapped and generating $4,000 MRR)
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Startups FYI Roundup
🤖 How Solo Founders Are Building 6–7 Figure AI Businesses
Most people still think AI is just a tool for quick answers. In reality, it’s powering solo founders building full-scale businesses that generate 6–7 figures a year.
The real opportunity is not theory — it’s proven models, real execution, and people quietly winning with them right now.
The gap between what AI can do and what most people think it can do is where the money is. Most are still using it like a search bar, while others are building systems that scale.
⚡The Fastest Path to Becoming an AI Engineer
Most people think becoming an AI engineer requires expensive courses and endless certificates. In reality, the fastest path is already public — built by Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, and backed by massive open-source communities. The only difference is execution: most people consume, very few build.
🚨 AI Agents are easier to build than ever.
You no longer need to code for weeks or manage servers to create autonomous AI systems. With Claude Managed Agents, anyone can build agents that research, automate tasks, generate reports, and work 24/7.
The people winning with AI right now are not using it as a chatbot — they’re building systems around it.
(Tag @ChrisBulen to get your project featured in next week’s roundup)
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That’s it for this time! See you again next week.
— Chris (@ChrisBulen)