Stealth Startup Spy #210
Fitbit co-founder builds a stealth health venture, Ex-Autodesk exec secures $46M for next-gen building design platform, & Ex-Google & Apple engineers launch open-source AI research platform
🚨Here’s the deal🚨This email has gotten too big. Exciting, but with more people following it, the edge diminishes. I’ve thought long and hard about what to do to preserve the value in the signals. I’m not sure about the final direction yet, but in the meantime I’ve been sending an email 48 hours earlier to a select group of paid subscribers. The feedback has been pretty positive so I’m going to open up the list for another 100 spots. To get signals early, Apply here!
In this issue of the Stealth Startup Spy, here is what we will uncover:
Ex-Google and Apple engineers launch open-source AI model development platform, raises $10M seed
Ex-Fitbit Co-Founder & CTO launches consumer health stealth venture post-Google acquisition
Ex-Autodesk exec emerges from stealth with $46M in funding to build an AI-powered cloud-native 3D CAD platform
Ex-ChenMed & Curity exec brings AI agents to automate finance and supply chain tasks in healthcare
After 15 years at Google, former Google Assistant/Gemini product leader embarks on stealth venture
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
Pratik Risbud - Co-Founder & CEO at Kato
Prior Experience: Ex-Director, Credit & Risk Strategy at Tenet, ex-Credit Risk and Operations at Brex, ex-Investment Banking Analyst at Goldman Sachs
Connect on: LinkedIn
Kato is a compliant digital agent that automates outbound loan servicing calls, reducing time-intensive tasks with cost-effective, compliance-ready automation.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Software Development | Team Size: 2
Co-Founder: David Zhu (ex-Brex, Google - featured in SSS#172)
Key Investors: Pear VC
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 7 months
Amar Hanspal - Founder & CEO at Motif
🔎Featured Founder under stealth mode 20 months ago
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Masters Degree, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-CEO at Bright Machines, ex-Co-CEO and Chief Product Office of Autodesk
Connect on: LinkedIn or Twitter
Motif is building a cloud-native 3D CAD platform with AI and machine learning elements.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States / Remote
Industry: Software Development | Team Size: 40
Co-Founder: Brian Mathews (Ex-CTO at Bright Machines, ex-VP Platform Engineering at Autodesk)
Latest Funding: $46M Series A Round on 1/29/2025
Key Investors: Redpoint, CapitalG, Baukunst
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 years 2 months
Mason Swofford - Co-Founder & CEO at Tenzo
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Doctorate Degree, Masters Degree, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Tech Lead - New Products at Verkada, ex-Research Scientist at Waymo, ex-Researcher at Stanford University, ex-ML Engineer at NVIDIA
Connect on: LinkedIn
Tenzo is an AI recruiting software to maximize employment.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Software Development
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 years 1 month
Emmanouil Koukoumidis - Co-Founder & CEO at Oumi
FounderDNA: Former FAANG, Doctorate Degree, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Senior Software Engineering Manager at Google Cloud AI, ex-Machine Learning Software Engineer at Meta, ex-Microsoft
Connect on: LinkedIn
Oumi allows users to build, evaluate, and deploy cutting-edge AI models at any scale through an all-in-one, fully open-source solution.
HQ: Seattle, Washington, United States
Industry: Software Development | Team Size: 16
Co-Founder: Oussama Elachqar (ex-ML Engineer at Apple, Twitter and Microsoft)
Latest Funding: $10M Seed Round on 1/29/2025
Key Investors: Venrock, Obvious Ventures, Ascend, Plug and Play
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 10 months
Jack O'Hara - Co-Founder & CEO at Translucent
FounderDNA: Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Chief Information Officer at ChenMed, Chief Product and Engineering at Curity, ex-Chief Transformation Officer at Springfield Clinic
Connect on: LinkedIn
Translucent builds AI Agent Business Analyst Teams to help healthcare providers tackle the never-ending queue of finance, supply chain, and contract management tasks.
HQ: New York, United States
Industry: Hospitals and Health Care | Team Size: 3
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 6 months
🕵️♂️Key Talent Going Under Stealth
Illuminating clues left behind by world class talent and influential innovators who just went into stealth mode
Eric Friedman - Co-Founder at Consumer Health Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Top 10 University, Prior Exit
Prior Experience: Co-founder and ex-CTO at Fitbit (acquired by Google), ex-Engineer Manager at CNET Networks, ex-Co-Founder at Wind-Up Labs (sold to CNET)
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 11 months
Sudheer Dhurjati - Co-Founder & CTO at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Vice President – Technology and Architecture. at Sequoia Capital, ex-Head of IT at Rubrik, ex-Director, Engineering Leader at GE Aviation, ex-Senior Manager at VMware, ex-Oracle
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 year 5 months
Patricio Fernandez Weisson - Co-Founder & CTO at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Director of Data Science at Astrazeneca, ex-Director of Data Science at Evinova, ex-Lead Data Scientist at Sanofi
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: London Area, United Kingdom
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 months
Mark Regan - Co-Founder & CEO at Stealth Mode
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: ex-Google AI, ex-Google Assistant (Led teams within Google's AI division focusing on retail & led teams within Google Assistant/Gemini)
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Dublin, Ireland
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 4 months
Sonya Jin - Co-Founder at Stealth
FounderDNA: Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Research Scientist - LLMs at NVIDIA, ex-Applied Scientist - Graph Machine Learning at Amazon Web Services
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 months
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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.