Stealth Startup Spy #227
Former EY CTO & Microsoft VP build adaptive AI for enterprises, Harvard & Pfizer alum raises $2.1M for chemistry-led drug discovery, & WaveOne founder tackles construction AI workflows
If you want your own startup, your portfolio company, or just a rockstar team to get featured in front of our audience of 25K+ investors, submit it here to be considered.
In this issue of the Stealth Startup Spy, here is what we will uncover:
Former EY CTO and Microsoft AI VP team up to deliver adaptive intelligence to enterprises
Robinhood’s former product head embarks on a stealth venture
Harvard and Pfizer scientist raises $2.1M to redefine drug discovery through chemistry-first AI
WaveOne founder (acquired by Apple) launches trustworthy AI workflows for construction
Ex-Uber and Google engineer joins YC X25 with 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
Nicola Morini - Founder and CEO at Evolver
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Former CTO at EY, ex-Managing Director, Artificial Intelligence at Accenture
Connect on: LinkedIn
Evolver is building adaptive intelligence systems that deliver measurable business outcomes in operations, finance, and compliance.
HQ: Palo Alto, California, United States
Industry: Software Development | Team Size: 22
Co-Founder: Luis Vargas (Ex-VP, AI at Microsoft - featured in SSS#187)
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 10 months
Lubomir Bourdev - Co-Founder & CEO at Primepoint
🔎Featured Founder under stealth mode in StealthStartSpy#77
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Doctorate Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University, Prior Exit
Prior Experience: Ex-Co-founder and CEO at WaveOne (acquired by Apple), ex-Research Scientist / Engineering Manager at Facebook, ex-Sr. Research Scientist at Adobe Systems
Connect on: LinkedIn
Primepoint - Construction AI workflows you can trust with a precise drawing and spec paper trail, from precon to closeout.
HQ: United States
Industry: Technology, Information and Internet | Team Size: 6
Co-Founders: Hamid Palo (Ex-Atlassian, Trello, Microsoft, Uber)
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 year 9 months
Chirag Kulkarni - Co-Founder at Syra
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Strategy and Operations Lead at Resolute Psychiatry, ex-McKinsey
Connect on: LinkedIn
Syra - Building the first Agentic Platform with guaranteed outcomes.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Software Development | Team Size: 3
Co-founders: Arjun A. (Ex-Amazon Search Science) , Josh Eiland (Ex-Bain)
Key Investors: Afore Capital
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 5 months
James Brewster - Founder & CEO at Cime Therapeutics
FounderDNA: Doctorate Degree, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Senior Principal Scientist at Think Bioscience, ex-Principal Scientist at Pfizer, Postdoctoral Researcher at Harvard University
Connect on: LinkedIn
Cime Therapeutics is redefining drug discovery through a chemistry first approach.
HQ: Boulder, Colorado, United States
Industry: Biotechnology Research | Team Size: 4
Latest Funding: $2.1M Pre-Seed Round on 4/2/2025
Key Investors: Range Ventures, DYDX, Service Provider Capital
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 9 months
Jonathan Mortensen - CEO at Confident Security
🔎Featured Founder under stealth mode in StealthStartSpy#190
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Doctorate Degree, Masters Degree, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Staff Engineer at Databricks, ex-Founder & CTO at bit.io (acquired by Databricks), ex-Head of Data Science & Data Engineering at BlueVoyant, Founder & CTO at Gyroscope Software (acquired by BlueVoyant)
Connect on: LinkedIn
Confident Security is building provable private AI for industries with high security and compliance requirements.
HQ: United States
Industry: Data Security Software Products | Team Size: 2
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
Michael Kaufman - Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Head of Product at Robinhood, ex-VP of Product and Operations at Say Technologies, ex-Product Manager at FINRA
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: New York, New York, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 month
Rene Huangtian Brandel - Founder at Stealth AI Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Head of Product at Amazon Web Services, ex-Program Manager at Microsoft, Harvard alum
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: New York, New York, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 months
Adriel A. - Founder at Stealth
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Senior ML Engineer at Affirm, ex-ML Engineer at Intuit
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 month
Arvind Soni - Co-Founder & CEO at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Principal GTM Specialist at Amazon Web Services (AWS), ex-Director of Product Management at Checkr, ex-VP of Product & Marketing at Netsil, ex-Group Product Line Manager at VMware
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 months
Christopher Settles - Co-Founder & CEO at Stealth (YC X25)
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Ex-Machine Learning Engineet at Uber, ex-Google, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Masters of Computer Science
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 month
🚨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!
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.
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.