Stealth Startup Spy #178
Demandbase & DoorDash alum launch $4M AI customer research platform, Ex-Genpact CTO targets pharmacovigilance automation, & Palantir alum builds AI for manufacturing transformation
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:
Former Demandbase VP and DoorDash manager team up to launch a customer research platform powered by AI-moderated interviews, raising $4M in seed funding
Ex-Veeva leader and former Genpact CTO introduces an AI agent designed to automate and optimize pharmacovigilance processes
New point-of-sale software targeting home services companies emerges from stealth with $4M in pre-seed funding
After 17 years at PayPal, a seasoned executive sets off on a stealth venture
Palantir alumnus, backed by Y Combinator, is developing AI technology for the manufacturing sector
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
Lydia Hylton- Co-Founder & CEO at Strella
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Former FAANG, Top 10 University, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Vice President, Product Design at Demandbase, Vice President, Product Design at C3 AI, Board of Advisors at Celonis and CalmSea Inc, Director, Product Design at Vendavo
Co-Founder: Priya Krishnan (Manager, New Business Verticals at DoorDash, Senior PM at Brava Home Inc, PM at Fitbit, Wharton MBA)
Strella, an innovative customer research platform that uses AI-moderated interviews and real-time synthesis to deliver human insights at scale.
HQ: New York, New York, United States
Industry: Software | Team Size: 2
Latest Funding: $4M Seed on 10/15/2024 led by Decibel with participation from Unusual Ventures
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 16 months
Umberto Scarfogliero - Co-Founder at Toro Bio
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Doctorate Degree, Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-VP of R&D at Multiply Labs, ex-Product Design Manager, Advanced Products at Amazon Lab126, ex-Principal Engineer at Auris Health
Connect on: LinkedIn
Toro Bio is transforming cell and gene therapy process development and manufacturing with automated systems that streamline the entire process - at the point of care.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Medical Equipment Manufacturing | Team Size: 2
Co-Founder: Ena Wang (Ex-Nurix Therapeutics, Allogene Therapeutics, AbbVie)
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 11 months
Michael Mentele - Founder at Banana Robotics
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Ex-Co-Founder & CTO at Leftlane Software (raised $3.5M), ex-Software Engineer at Facebook
Connect on: LinkedIn
Banana Robotics is launching the era of personal robotics from your garage.
HQ: Austin, Texas, United States
Industry: Robotics Engineering
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 6 months
Sunil Shivaji Kulkarni - Founder at TheraLyze
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Chief AI Officer / Chief Technology Officer at Arietta.ai (spinoff from Genpact), ex-CTO at Genpact, ex-Sr Director Of Engineering at Veeva Systems, ex-Head Of Engineering at Thomson Reuters, ex-Senior Development Manager at Oracle
Connect on: LinkedIn
TheraLyze is an AI-powered assistant for case processors, streamlining the drug safety intake process by automatically extracting essential pharmacovigilance data from unstructured text
HQ: Pleasanton, California, United States
Industry: Hospitals and Health Care | Team Size: 4
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 3 months
Craig Battin - CEO & Co-Founder at Airship
FounderDNA: Serial Founder
Prior Experience: Ex-Chief Growth Officer at Earnest, ex-Co-Founder at Poplar (Real Estate/Fintech Company), ex-Head of Growth at Varo Money
Connect on: LinkedIn
Co-Founder: Michael Sachse (ex-CEO at Dandelion Energy, ex-CMO at Opower, acquired by Oracle)
Airship develops software tools to help residential HVAC experts capitalize on electrification opportunities in homes.
HQ: United States
Industry: Mobile Computing Software Products | Team Size: 5
Latest Funding: $4M Pre-Seed Round on 9/29/2024
Key Investors: Silence VC, QED Investors, Lorimer Ventures, Twine Ventures Logo Twine Ventures, Four Acres Capital
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 19 months
🕵️♂️Key Talent Going Under Stealth
Illuminating clues left behind by world class talent and influential innovators who just went into stealth mode
Chong Sun - Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
Building something to automate away the manual tasks with AI
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Doctorate Degree, Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Senior Machine Learning Scientist at Chewy, ex-Data Scientist at Amazon, ex-Lead Machine Learning Scientist at Illinois Policy
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Seattle, Washington, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 month
Haixia Wang - Co-Founder & CEO at Stealth Startup
Addressing climate change through data-driven solutions
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Doctorate Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Senior Director, Data Research at ZoomInfo, ex-SVP, Research at Skift, ex-Research Director, Marketing Data Analysis at Gartner, ex-VP Forecasting & Head of APAC at eMarketer
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Greater Seattle Area, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 5 months
Nina Nashif - Co-Founder & CEO at Stealth Startup
Building a new women's health AI startup focused on optimizing clinical and non-clinical workflow for providers while also empowering women over 40 along their entire health journey.
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Masters Degree, Prior Exit
Prior Experience: Ex-Chief Innovation Officer at VillageMD, ex-Founder & CEO at Healthbox (Acquired by HIMSS), ex-Managing Director at Sandbox Industries, ex-Vice President at Sg2
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Chicago, Illinois, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 10 months
Aditya Tewari - Co-Founder at Stealth
Building an AI tech for manufacturing. Backed by Y Combinator.
FounderDNA: Technical Founder
Prior Experience: Ex-Forward Deployed Software Engineer at Palantir Technologies, ex-Research Assistant - Department of Statistics at University of Michigan, ex-Data Scientist at Nike, ex-Advanced Manufacturing Engineer at Rockwell Automation
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 months
Rushik Upadhyay - Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Technical Founder
Prior Experience: Ex-Sr. Director, Engineering and Architecture, Compliance and Financial Crime at PayPal (17-year tenure)
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Jose, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 month
Stay Stealthy,
Drake
Thank you for reading. If you liked it, share it with your friends, colleagues and everyone interested in staying ahead of the hidden developments in tech. Subscribe below and follow us on X / Twitter to never miss a company operating under stealth again.