Bug Labs primarily uses Java for their product and Ruby on Rails for their web stuff.
If you are assuming startup == web app, then sure Java is probably dead, in other contexts not so much. Using Java was advantageous for Bug Labs for a number or reasons - among them available open source libraries, widest adoption among customers (their business almost requires customers to touch source code and while Python would have brought in more enthusiasts, Java brings in more enterprise customers and thats where the money is), performance of the JVM, and portability across both the ARM platform and x86 stuff.
If you are assuming startup == web app, then sure Java is probably dead, in other contexts not so much. Using Java was advantageous for Bug Labs for a number or reasons - among them available open source libraries, widest adoption among customers (their business almost requires customers to touch source code and while Python would have brought in more enthusiasts, Java brings in more enterprise customers and thats where the money is), performance of the JVM, and portability across both the ARM platform and x86 stuff.
(Oh and BL is in NYC)