Stealth Startup Spy

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Stealth Startup Spy #26

stealthstartupspy.substack.com

Stealth Startup Spy #26

Former Stock Exchange executive launches new investing app, Ex-Stripe engineer debuts sales copilot for closing more deals, & Oxford PhD is stealthily building a revolutionary AI accelerator hardware

Drake Dukes
May 1, 2023
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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 track billions of data points to help you identify tomorrow's opportunities that are currently hiding in the shadows. These signals include tracking the inflows and outflows of talent who work at “Stealth Startups”, bios and profile changes to “building something new” and monitoring press releases to shine a light on the hidden world of stealth startups.


In this issue of the Stealth Startup Spy, here is what we will uncover:

  • Ex-Stripe Engineer launches real time sales copilot for closing more deals

  • Oxford PhD stealthily building revolutionary AI accelerator hardware

  • Ex-LinkedIn/Slack Engineer debuts software platform to deliver weather insights

  • Former executive at Tel Aviv Stock Exchange launches new investing app (currently in beta)

  • AI app store for developers and end users emerges from stealth

  • Ex-Software Engineer at Affirm is working on a new project 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

Gabe Villasana - Co-Founder at Zenfetch

FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Former FAANG

Prior Experience: Ex-ML Engineer at Stripe, ex-Assistant Research Scientist at Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute, ex Lyft, ex-MongoDB, ex-Amazon

Connect on: LinkedIn | Twitter

Zenfetch helps high-volume go-to-market teams increase close rate by prioritizing sales opportunities.

HQ: San Francisco, California, United States

Industry: Software Development | Team Size: 2

Latest Funding: $500K Pre-Seed Round on 4/5/2023

Key Investor: Y Combinator

Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 7 months


Youssef Benkirane - Co-Founder & CEO at Terraa

Prior Experience: Ex-General Manager at Zapp, Former Advisor at MakerDAO, Ex- Consultant at Bain & Company and Argon & Co

Connect on: LinkedIn

Terraa directly connects farmers with retailers, restaurants, and service providers in Africa using cutting-edge technology.

HQ: Casablanca, Morocco

Industry: Technology, Information and Internet | Team Size: 8

Latest Funding: $1.5M Pre-Seed Round on 2/14/2023

Key Investors: FoodLabs, UM6P Ventures, Outlierz Ventures, Musha Ventures and Africa-centric DFS Lab

Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 9 months


Sunil Nagaraj - Founder at Weathersight

Prior Experience: Ex-Staff Software Engineer at Slack and LinkedIn, Former Tech Lead and Manager at Moveworks, Ex-Engineer at Yahoo

Connect on: LinkedIn | Twitter

Weathersight, the modern software platform for discovering and contextualizing global weather trends

HQ: San Francisco, California, United States

Industry: Software Development | Team Size: 1

Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 15 months


Elad Benbaji - Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Blink

FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Masters Degree

Prior Experience: Ex-Director at Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Former Chairman at The TBA Tase Brokers Association, Ex-Visiting Lecturer at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Connect on: LinkedIn

Blink is a simple, clear and convenient investing app for everyone

HQ: Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel

Industry: Financial Services | Team Size: 9

Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 24 months


Taranjeet Singh - Founder at CookupAI

Prior Experience: OnDeck Fellow, Ex-Senior Product Manager at Khatabook, Ex-Senior Software Engineer at Enclusys

Connect on: LinkedIn | Twitter

Cookup is an AI app store for developers and end users. Developers can create, deploy, distribute and monetize their apps. End users can discover, search and use AI apps

HQ: San Francisco, California, United States

Industry: Software Development | Team Size: 1

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

Grady Burnett - Co-Founder at Stealth Startup

FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University

Prior Experience: VP at Bow Capital, ex-Co-CEO at Macondray Capital, ex-Chief Operating Officer at Flurry, Inc., ex-Facebook, ex-Google, Harvard MBA

Connect on: LinkedIn

HQ: Menlo Park, California, United States

Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 4 months


Zyon Wu - Co-Founder & CTO at Stealth Startup

FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Former FAANG

Prior Experience: Ex-Senior Deep Learning Engineer at Cruise, ex-Lead Deep Learning Engineer at Magic Leap, ex-Research Intern at Google

Connect on: LinkedIn

Building AI generated guides and automation

HQ: Sunnyvale, California, United States

Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 21 months


Nicolas Garfinkel - Co-Founder & CTO at Stealth Startup

FounderDNA: Former FAANG

Prior Experience: Former Head of Product at HundredX, ex-Senior PM, Growth at Microsoft, ex-Program Manager at Amazon, ex-eBay

Connect on: LinkedIn

HQ: Seattle, Washington, United States

Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 6 months


Helen Hastings- Co-Founder & CTO at Stealth

FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Former FAANG, Top 10 University

Prior Experience: Ex-Senior Staff Software Engineer at Affirm, ex-NerdWallet, ex-Google, ex-VMware

Connect on: LinkedIn

HQ: San Francisco, California, United States

Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 10 months


Walter Goodwin - Co-Founder & CEO at Stealth Startup

FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Doctorate Degree, Former FAANG

Prior Experience: Ex-Applied Scientist: AI & Robotics at Amazon, ex-Associate at Oxford Science Enterprises, University of Oxford PhD

Connect on: LinkedIn

HQ: United Kingdom

Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 5 months

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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 Twitter to never miss a company operating under stealth again.

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