Stealth Startup Spy #233
Defense tech veterans launch next-gen security platform, Amazon and Uber veterans build AI for business outcomes, & Ex-Nutanix lead automates document understanding with foundation models
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In this issue of the Stealth Startup Spy, here is what we will uncover:
Amazon and Uber alums team up to build AI that prioritizes business outcomes
Former Nutanix BizOps lead builds specialized foundation models to automate document understanding
Defense tech veterans (ex-Helsing/Anduril) launch next-gen platform to secure cities and critical facilities
Former Netflix and Google engineers raise $600K to simplify product notifications with no-code automation
Twilio and YC alums reimagine debt collection with AI-powered recovery and communication
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
Mark Goodwin - Co-Founder and CEO at Toodo
🔎Featured Founder under stealth mode in StealthStartSpy#193
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
Toodo understands your business goals, and works tirelessly with your team to prioritize the tasks to achieve them.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Technology, Information and Internet | Team Size: 2
Co-Founder: Ben Wallace (Ex-Director, Product Marketing at LinkedIn, ex-Head of Marketing, AR & Visual Search at Amazon, UberEats founding team, ex-Google)
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 5 months
Sandy Kwon - Co-Founder & COO at Datalab
FounderDNA: Serial Founder
Prior Experience: Ex-VP of Operations & GTM / Cofounding team at Sym, ex-Business Operations & Strategy at Nutanix, ex-Business & Revenue Operations at Algolia
Connect on: LinkedIn
Datalab trains specialized foundation models that reliably turn complex documents into structured data - at scale.
HQ: United States
Industry: Software Development | Team Size: 3
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 5 months
Rafael Licursi - Co-Founder & CEO at Stronghold AI
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Doctorate Degree, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Senior RF Antenna Research Engineer at Greenerwave, ex-Senior Signals Intelligence Researcher at Helsing, ex-Military Pilot
Connect on: LinkedIn
Stronghold AI develops next-generation defense solutions to protect cities, facilities, and people in dynamic environments.
HQ: Paris, France
Industry: Defense and Space Manufacturing | Team Size: 4
Co-Founder: Hugo S. (Ex-Anduril, Twitter and Microsoft)
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 months
Andrew Kim - Co-Founder & CTO at Notika AI
🔎Featured Founder under stealth mode in StealthStartSpy#192
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Ex-Head of Engineering at Bonside, ex-Senior Software Engineer at Netflix, ex-Software Engineer at Stella.ai, ex-Solutions Software Developer at Avanade
Connect on: LinkedIn
Notika AI is a transactional notification service that allows users to build automated product notification workflows, without touching a line of code.
HQ: New York, New York, United States
Industry: Information Services | Team Size: 2
Co-founder: Ajay Sohmshetty (Cofounder of Harmonic, ex-Google)
Latest Funding: $600K Pre-Seed Round on 10/6/2024
Key Investors: Forum Ventures, Abstraction Capital
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 6 months
Marc Sanchez Garcia - Co-Founder & CTO at Murphy AI
FounderDNA: Technical Founder
Prior Experience: Ex-Software Engineer at Twilio, ex-Tech Lead at haddock (YC W22)
Connect on: LinkedIn
Murphy is a debt collection platform powered by AI, designed to optimize recovery rates while maintaining respectful and personalized communication.
HQ: Barcelona, Spain
Industry: Financial Services | Team Size: 11
Co-Founder: Borja Sole Fauria (Ex-COO/CFO at haddock (YC W22))
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 7 months
🕵️♂️Key Talent Going Under Stealth
Illuminating clues left behind by world class talent and influential innovators who just went into stealth mode
Ray Ranga - Founder at Stealth AI Startup
FounderDNA: Masters Degree, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-VP, Product Management at HashiCorp, ex-VP, Product Management at SurveyMonkey, ex-Senior Director, Product Management at Splunk
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 9 months
Michael Tambe - Co-Founder & CEO at Stealth Mode Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Doctorate Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Sr. Director, Data and Analytics at Gong, ex-Head of Scaled Insight Science, Amazon Ads at Amazon, ex-Head of Go-to-market Operations, Data Science at LinkedIn
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Greater Boston, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 month
Caitlin Rollman - Co-Founder at Stealth AI Startup
FounderDNA: Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Sr. Director of Product Management at Highspot, ex-Principal PM Manager, Office Platform at Microsoft
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Seattle, Washington, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 months
Irzana Golding - Founder & CEO at Stealth
Building an AI platform that turns grantee reports into one-click insights (GoodGraph.ai).
FounderDNA: Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Director of Business Intelligence & GTM Acceleration at Cisco, ex-Head of Revenue Forecasting & GTM Analytics at Gusto, ex-Director of Analytics & Data Products, Subscription Renewals at ServiceNow
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 6 months
Skylar Salman - Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
Building a platform for teams scaling real hardware: robotics, EVs, and industrial tech.
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Senior Manager of Vehicle Bringup and Manufacturing Test Engineering at Cruise, ex-Senior Manager of Manufacturing Test Engineering at Rivian, ex-Manager of Hardware Test and Calibration at Waymo, ex-Google
Connect on: LinkedIn
Co-Founder: John Cathcart (ex-Staff Technical Program Manager at Cruise)
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 month
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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.