Stealth Startup Spy #163
YC alum with a $115M exit is now developing AI-driven autonomous drones, An AI real estate agent eliminating commissions goes live, & Ex-Intel execs launch an AI-powered marketing platform
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:
YC alum who sold previous company for $115M is now building autonomous drones powered by AI
Founding Engineer at Anyscale with a PhD in AI/Systems from UC Berkeley is building a new venture in stealth mode
An AI real estate agent to help users buy and sell homes without paying any commissions emerges from stealth
Former Intel executives launch an AI-powered platform for comprehensive digital marketing campaigns
After a decade at Adobe, two colleagues co-found an AI-powered go-to-market platform
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
Ankit Dhawan - Co-Founder & CEO at RealStar AI
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Prior Exit
Prior Experience: Ex-Founder and CEO at Virtuelly (acquired), ex-Tech Product Lead, Generative Artificial Intelligence - Voice at Amazon
Connect on: LinkedIn
RealStar AI is building an AI real estate agent to help people buy and sell homes commission free.
HQ: Bellevue, Washington, United States
Industry: Software Development | Team Size: 5
Co-Founders: Omar Hashmy (Ex-Optimal, HelloFresh), Daniel Suskin (Ex-Meta, Zynga, Amazon)
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 months
Stanislav Korsei - Co-Founder at TAKTYKA
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Prior Exit
Prior Experience: Ex-Head of Product at WonderFi, ex-Product Manager at Shopify, ex-Product Manager at Hootsuite, Co-Founder and ex-CEO at Zeetl (acquired by Hootsuite)
Connect on: LinkedIn
TAKTYKA is a defence technology company.
HQ: Canada
Industry: Aviation and Aerospace Component Manufacturing | Team Size: 4
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 4 months
Michael LaFramboise - Co-Founder & CEO at Aurelius Systems
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Senior Technical Product Manager, Amazon Devices at Amazon, UC Berkeley alum, ex-R&D Engineer at Coherent Corp
Connect on: LinkedIn
Aurelius Systems is a directed energy company developing edge-deployed laser systems for counter-unmanned aircraft systems (cUAS) applications.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Defense and Space Manufacturing | Team Size: 3
Latest Funding: Raised $2.1M from Outlander VC and Decisive Point, Founders, Inc., 640 Oxford, Detroit Venture Partners, First In Ventures
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 4 months
Mohit Garg - Co-Founder & CEO at Tapistro
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Director of Product Management at Adobe (11-year tenure), ex-BCG
Connect on: LinkedIn
Tapistro is building AI Autopilots for GTM teams.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Software Development | Team Size: 4
Co-Founder: Raghavendra Pandey (ex-Director of Engineering at Adobe)
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 6 months
Seema Menon - Co-Founder & CEO at Myestro
🔎Featured Founder under stealth mode in StealthStartupSpy#107
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Senior Director, Ecosystem Products at Intel, ex-Lead System Designer at GE HealthCare
Connect on: LinkedIn
Myestro is revolutionizing end-to-end campaign management with an AI digital marketing coworker.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Technology, Information and Internet | Team Size: 2
Co-Founder: Sadek Absi (Ex-Intel Vice President)
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
Ram Jayaraman - Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
Building autonomous drones with the power of AI
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Cofounded Plate IQ (YC S15), sold to PE, and Automatica Labs (YC S11), sold to Sirius XM for $115M
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Technology, Information and Internet | Team Size: 2
Co-Founder: Ram Periathiruvadi (featured in SSS #161) ex-Head of Firmware, VR Devices at Meta
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 month
Ameer Haj Ali - Founder at Stealth
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Doctorate Degree, Masters Degree, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Founding Engineer, Head of Platform, Infrastructure & Endpoints Engineering at Anyscale, ex-AI Researcher at Intel Labs, ex-Software Engineer at NVIDIA, AI/Systems PhD from UC Berkeley
Connect on: LinkedIn or Twitter
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Technology, Information and Internet
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 4 months
Dani Cooper - Co-Founder at Stealth Mode
FounderDNA: Serial Founder
Prior Experience: Ex-Chief of Operations, Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund at the U.S. Department of State (15-year tenure)
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 months
Sam Fagin - Co-Founder at Stealth AI Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Director, Digital Assets & Currencies at Checkout.com, ex-Global Strategic Partnerships at CoinPayments
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: New York, New York, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 month
Kristian Luoma - Co-Founder at Stealth
FounderDNA: Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Chief Strategy Officer at Utopia Music, ex-Director, Head of OP lab at OP Financial Group, ex-Nokia
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Finland
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 4 months
Stay Stealthy,
Drake
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