Stealth Startup Spy #239
Ex-Amazon, YC alum raises $33M seed for semicondictor AI platform, UCBerkeley PhD and Meta/Apple alum exits stealth, & Snowflake and Snap eng lead tackles enterprise inefficiency with new AI company
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 Deep Learning Lead at Amazon and Y Combinator alum raises $33M seed to build Artificial Chip Intelligence (ACI) with backing from top deeptech VCs
Orkus founder (acquired by SailPoint) and former Cisco Engineering Director returns with new stealth startup
UC Berkeley PhD and Meta/Apple alum builds AI-powered maintenance platform for critical power systems
Engineering lead from Snowflake and Snap tackles enterprise inefficiency with new AI-native platform
Former Principal Applied Scientist at Amazon and Principal Research Scientist at Yahoo! launches 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
Ehsan Kamalinejad - Co-Founder & CTO at Cognichip
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Doctorate Degree, Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Ex-Deep Learning Tech Lead at Amazon, ex-Co-Founder & CTO at Visual One (Y Combinator), ex-Senior Machine Learning Scientist at Apple
Connect on: LinkedIn
Cognichip is developing the world’s first Artificial Chip Intelligence (ACI®) to reimagine chip design.
HQ: United States
Industry: Software Development | Team Size: 18
Latest Funding: $33M Seed Round on 5/15/2025
Key Investors: Lux Capital, Mayfield, FPV, Candou Ventures
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 13 months
Jeremy Hon - Founder & CTO at Haydn
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Senior Software Engineer at Otta.com, ex-Software Engineer at Wantedly, ex-J.P. Morgan
Connect on: LinkedIn
Haydn is a month-end automation platform designed to help finance teams streamline their financial close and reporting processes.
HQ: London, United Kingdom
Industry: Software Development | Team Size: 10
Key Investors: Backed by the CFOs of Cloudflare, Wise and leading fintech VCs
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 16 months
Subu Subramanian - Co-Founder at Mercer Labs
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Ex-Principal Software Engineer at Snowflake, ex-Technical Lead at Snapchat, ex-Software Engineer at Amazon, ex-Microsoft
Connect on: LinkedIn
Mercer Labs aims to eliminate management inefficiencies in every Enterprise, empowering leaders and front line workers to unlock their full potential.
HQ: Mercer Island, Washington, United States
Industry: Software Development
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 months
Daniel Asper - Co-Founder at Continuum
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Senior Product Manager at Shopify, ex-Operations Manager at Uber
Connect on: LinkedIn
Continuum is building the AI engine for personalized financial advisory at scale.
HQ: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Industry: Technology, Information and Internet | Team Size: 4
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 9 months
Joseph Kao - Co-Founder & CEO at Magnefy
🔎Featured Founder under stealth mode in StealthStartupSpy#228
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Doctorate Degree, Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Technical Program Manager at Meta, ex-Engineering Manager at Apple, ex-Research Scientist at Carbon, UC Berkeley PhD, Stanford GSB
Connect on: LinkedIn
Magnefy transforms predictive maintenance for critical power assets — transformers, switchgears, and motors — through AI-powered, high-frequency magnetic sensing.
HQ: Palo Alto, California, United States
Industry: Electric Power Transmission, Control, and Distribution
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 13 months
🕵️♂️Key Talent Going Under Stealth
Illuminating clues left behind by world class talent and influential innovators who just went into stealth mode
Bill Liatsis - Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Prior Exit
Prior Experience: Ex-Vice President and GM, CreditIQ at Cars.com, Co-Founder of CreditIQ (acquired), ex-CEO at VOISYS
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: West Palm Beach, Florida, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 month
Lior Levit - CEO at Stealth AI Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder
Prior Experience: Ex-General Manager at Rapyd, Co Founder & ex-CEO at Mixerr, ex-Team Lead at Waze
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Tel Aviv District, Israel
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 month
Shivam Kumar - Co-Founder & CTO at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Software Engineer at Rubrik, ex-Engineer at Palantir, ex-Software Engineer at Microsoft
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Palo Alto, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 12 months
Ran Wolff - Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Doctorate Degree, Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Ex-Principal Applied Scientist at Amazon, ex-Principal Research Scientist Yahoo!
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Israel
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 month
Abhishek Saxena - Founder at Stealth AI Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Prior Exit
Prior Experience: Founder & ex-CEO at unSkript, Co-Founder of Orkus (acquired by SailPoint Technologies, NYSE: SAIL), Director Of Engineering at Cisco
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: 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.