Stealth Startup Spy #161
Y Combinator's first weapons company emerges from stealth, Former VICE Media COO unveils Gen Alpha entertainment company, & Ex-Head of Firmware at Meta launches stealth hardware-AI startup
Stealth Startup Spy is a data-driven newsletter for investors, journalists and tech enthusiasts interested in uncovering the next big move for key talent, real-time stealth company launches and technology advancements not in plain sight. We leverage the technology built at Gravity to track billions of data points to help you identify tomorrow's opportunities that are currently hiding in the shadows. These signals include tracking the inflows and outflows of talent who work at “Stealth Startups”, bios and profile changes to “building something new” and monitoring press releases to shine a light on the hidden world of stealth startups.
In this issue of the Stealth Startup Spy, here is what we will uncover:
Ex-Head of Operations and Strategy at Mach Industries launches YC’s first weapons company, building low-cost cruise missiles
Former VICE Media COO unveils new global entertainment company for Gen Alpha
Founding team member at Airplane (acquired by Airtable in Jan 2024) is building something new in stealth mode
Ex-Head of Firmware, VR Devices at Meta is developing a stealth startup at the intersection of hardware and AI
Following a 15-year tenure at First Derivatives and KX, an AI strategy executive departs to co-found a stealth AI startup
And more…
Now let’s shine the spotlight… 💡💡💡
🕵️♂️Founders Coming Out of Stealth
Real-time updates from founders who debut what they’ve been working on under stealth mode
Devan Plantamura - Co-Founder & COO at Ares Industries
FounderDNA: Serial Founder
Prior Experience: Head of Operations and Strategy at Mach Industries (raised $85M from Sequoia and Bedrock), Psychological Operations Specialist at US Army, Director of Partnerships at Director of Partnerships, Director of Business Development at SparkCognition Government Systems (SGS)
Co-Founder: Alex Tseng (Researcher at Stanford and Cal State, ML Engineer at Rivian, Drone and missiles startup founder)
Ares Industries, YCS24 - Y Combinator’s first weapons company, is building low-cost cruise missiles.
HQ: El Segundo, California, United States
Industry: Defense Technology | Team Size: 2
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 4 months
Max Kiejdan - Founder & CEO at BidMyCommunity
FounderDNA: Serial Founder
Prior Experience: Founder and CEO of OnYourSide Home Services, Founder of KM Living Real Estate
BidMyCommunity is an innovative online platform that streamlines the bidding process, giving contractors equal access to these projects while helping community associations efficiently manage and secure quality bids.
Co-Founder: Grant Kneble
HQ: Boca Raton, Florida, United States
Industry: Technology, Information and Internet | Team Size: 2
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 4 months
Traction Under Stealth: Functioning MVP platform creation with full launch within the month. Bootstrapped to date. Beginning Angel/Preseed round to further user acquisition and begin work on V2 platform with additional robust features.
John Alfano - Co-Founder & CEO at Seer Healthcare
FounderDNA: Serial Founder
Prior Experience: Ex-Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer at Lokavant, ex-Digital Product Lead at Roivant Sciences, ex-VP & General Manager, Diagnostic Market Insights at Prognos
Connect on: LinkedIn
Seer aims to responsibly leverage data and technology to help bring life-changing treatments to more people more quickly.
HQ: Union City, NJ, United States
Industry: Information Services | Team Size: 2
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 12 months
Thad Hwang - CEO & Co-Founder at Goji
🔎Featured Founder under stealth mode in StealthStartupSpy#130
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Chief Product Officer at REPLICA ($52M raised), ex-Chief Product Officer at The Black Tux, ex-Director of Product Management at Lyft, ex-Director of Product Management at eBay
Connect on: LinkedIn
Goji Mobile transforms how users find phone plans through personalized, AI-driven recommendations and our interactive coverage map.
HQ: Los Angeles, California, United States
Industry: Telecommunications | Team Size: 2
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 23 months
Hosi Simon - Co-Founder & Co-CEO at fut cha cha
🔎Featured Founder under stealth mode in StealthStartupSpy#119
FounderDNA: Serial Founder
Prior Experience: Ex-Chief Operating Officer at Space Perspective, ex-Chief Operating Officer at VICE Media, ex-Head of International at Rockstar Games
Connect on: LinkedIn
fut cha cha is a new global entertainment company for Gen Alpha – creating immersive experiences that blend cutting-edge technology, education, and storytelling around original IP.
HQ: Miami, Florida, United States
Industry: Technology, Information and Media | Team Size: 3
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 8 months
🕵️♂️Key Talent Going Under Stealth
Illuminating clues left behind by world class talent and influential innovators who just went into stealth mode
Adam Fletcher - Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Ex-Sr. Staff Software Engineer at Databricks, ex-CEO and founder at bit.io (acquired by Databricks), Founder and ex-CEO at Gyroscope Software (acquired by BlueVoyant), ex-Director of Engineering at Nuna, ex-Google
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 month
Ram Periathiruvadi - Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Ex-Head of Firmware, VR Devices at Meta, ex-Tech Lead & Manager, Android Automotive at Google, ex-Firmware Engineer at Apple
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: United States
Developing a startup that combines hardware with AI.
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 6 months
Conor Twomey - AI Co-Founder at Stealth Mode
FounderDNA: Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Head of AI Strategy at KX, ex-Managing Director, North America at First Derivatives
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: New York, NY, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 month
George Gui - Co-Founder at Stealth AI Startup
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Ex-Head of Push Recommend at TikTok, ex-Lead of ML Infra at Inceptio Technology, ex-Senior Software Development Engineer at Google
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Mountain View, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 3 months
Madhura Kumar - Co-Founder & CEO at Stealth
FounderDNA: Serial Founder
Prior Experience: Ex-Head of Growth at Airplane, ex-AI & Data at Palantir Technologies, ex-Morgan Stanley
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: New York, NY, United States
Building the future of natural language programming.
Co-founder: Eric Liu (ex-Airplane, ex-Hudson River Trading)
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 6 months
Stay Stealthy,
Drake
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