Stealth Startup Spy #193
Former Uber colleagues launch a stealth venture, Google Brain/DeepMind/Anthropic alum enters stealth, & Apache Parquet co-founder, ex-Airbnb/Twitter Head unveil open-source AI data infrastructure
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In this issue of the Stealth Startup Spy, here is what we will uncover:
Apache Parquet co-founder, ex-Airbnb and Twitter Head of Data Platform, and former Noteable CEO (acquired by Confluent) raise $5.5M in seed funding to launch open-source AI data infrastructure
Former Uber colleagues collaborate to co-found an AI SaaS startup
Ex-Kirkland & Ellis and Skadden attorney launches a legaltech platform to streamline SEC disclosures, reducing prep time by two-thirds
Former Google Brain, DeepMind, and Anthropic research scientist goes into stealth mode
Ex-VP of Product and Revenue at Quora begins building a new venture in stealth mode
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
Nick Rotola - Founder & CEO at UP
FounderDNA: Serial Founder
Prior Experience: Ex-Innovation at Local Bank, Founder/CEO at Web3 NYC Gallery, Ex-Pro Athlete
UP is a safe version of TikTok for youth, anchored by the scroll happy™ algorithm that recommends content for happiness not scroll time
HQ: Remote / Hybrid
Industry: Consumer Social | Team Size: 15
Key Team Members: Fmr TikTok, IG, Snap team disrupting the intersection of social x mental health.
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 12 months
Pierre Brunelle - Co-Founder & CEO at Pixeltable
🔎Featured Founder under stealth mode 17 weeks ago
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Masters Degree, Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Ex-Principal Product Manager at Confluent, ex-CEO at Noteable (acquired by Confluent), ex-Product Management Technical - Core AI at Amazon
Connect on: LinkedIn
Pixeltable is a Python library providing a declarative interface for multimodal data (text, images, audio, video).
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Data Infrastructure and Analytics | Team Size: 4
Co-founder: Marcel Kornacker (Founder of Apache Impala, Co-Founder of Apache Parquet) , Aaron Siegel (Ex-Head of Data Platform at Airbnb and Twitter)
Latest Funding: $5.5M Seed Round on 12/5/2024
Key Investors: The General Partnership, Exceptional Capital, South Park Commons, Liquid 2, Serena Data Ventures
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 6 months
Payton McCoy - Co-Founder & CEO at Greenshoe
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder
Prior Experience: Ex-Technology & IP Attorney at Kirkland & Ellis, ex-M&A and Capital Markets Attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
Connect on: LinkedIn
Greenshoe is building better SEC Disclosures in 1/3 the time.
HQ: New York, United States
Industry: LegalTech | Team Size: 2
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 6 months
Luis Voloch - Co-Founder & CEO at Jimini Health
🔎Featured Founder under stealth mode 47 weeks ago
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Co-Founder at Immunai ($215M raised), ex-Lecturer at Stanford GSB, ex-Head of Data Science and Machine Learning at Israel Tech Challenge <itc>, ex-Machine Learning at MyHeritage, ex-Machine Learning at Palantir Technologies
Connect on: LinkedIn
Jimini is building an AI-augmented therapy care model, creating a clinically effective, more modern treatment for patients.
HQ: New York, United States
Industry: Mental Health Care | Team Size: 15
Latest Funding: $8M Pre-Seed Round on 11/19/2024
Key Investors: Zetta Venture Partners, LionBird, PsyMed, BoxGroup, Arkitekt Ventures, SCB
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 year 4 months
David Palmer - Co-founder & CEO at Siiv
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Software Engineer at Truework, ex-R&D Software Engineer at DeSimone Consulting Engineers, ex-Software Engineer at Obsidian
Connect on: LinkedIn
Siiv is an automated payment application review for the construction industry.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Software Development | Team Size: 2
Co-Founder: Vishal Cherian (Ex-Software Engineer at Salesforce)
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 11 months
🕵️♂️Key Talent Going Under Stealth
Illuminating clues left behind by world class talent and influential innovators who just went into stealth mode
Mark Godwin - Co-Founder & CEO at Stealth
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Doctorate Degree, Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Principal Product Manager - Last Mile Tech at Amazon, Co-Founder & ex-CTO at Boxbot (raised $20M), ex-PM at Uber, UC Berkeley PhD
Connect on: LinkedIn
Co-Founder: Ben Wallace (Ex-Director, Product Marketing at LinkedIn, ex-Head of Marketing, AR & Visual Search at Amazon, UberEats founding team, ex-Google)
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 month
Albert Choi - Founder at Stealth
FounderDNA: Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Ex-Head of Data for Crypto, Payments, & Money Movement at Robinhood, ex-Head of Analytics, Slack Connect & Platform at Slack, ex-Head of Messenger Monetization Data Science at Meta
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: North Carolina, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 3 months
Shantanu Deo - Founder at Stealth
FounderDNA: Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Director of Ecommerce at PepsiCo, ex-Sr. Engineering Manager at AT&T, ex-Amazon
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Dallas, Texas, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 months
Ryan Browne - Founder at Stealth
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Chief Product Officer at Finch Care, ex-VP of Product and Revenue at Quora, ex-Director of Product Management at Meebo
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Francisco, California, United State
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 9 months
Stanislav Fort - Founder/Chief Scientist at Stealth
FounderDNA: Former FAANG, Masters Degree, Doctorate Degree, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Stanford AI/ML PhD, ex-Google Brain, DeepMind, Anthropic, ex-Stability AI LLM lead, Stanford MS & Cambridge BA+MSci
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 month
Stay Stealthy,
Drake
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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 shine a light on the hidden world of stealth startups.