Stealth Startup Spy #263
Perplexity AI fellow builds a Roblox-meets-Scratch platform for kids, Ex-Apple Vision Pro engineer and YC alum enters stealth, & Ex-Affirm/KeepTruckin leader develops new treatment for sleep apnea
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:
Ex-Affirm & KeepTruckin leader develops new treatment for sleep disorders UARS & OSA
Former Google & C3 AI engineer is now founder and CEO of a stealth AI startup
Former Perplexity AI fellow launches Roblox-meets-Scratch platform for kids to build 3D worlds in minutes
Ex-Apple Vision Pro engineer and YC alum embarks on stealth venture
Cambridge PhD builds next-gen neural interfaces at the intersection of biology and engineering
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
Reginald Long - Co-Founder at Rhythm
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Special Projects at Affirm, ex-Growth - Engineering Lead at KeepTruckin, ex-Entrepreneur In Residence at HVF Labs, ex-Machine Learning Engineer at Sift Science, ex-Software Engineer at Asana and AWS
Connect on: LinkedIn
Rhythm is working on a new and effective treatment for UARS (Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome) and OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea).
HQ: United States
Industry: Technology, Information and Internet | Team Size: 3
Co-Founder: Kanishk Vashisht (Ex-Affirm, ex-Early Team at Kojo)
Key Investors: SciFi Capital, Caffeinated Capital, South Park Commons
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 years 8 months
Mayank Mishra - Co-Founder at Madmods
FounderDNA: Serial Founder
Prior Experience: Ex-Perplexity AI Business Fellow, ex-Head of Design and Marketing at RagaAI, ex-Design Lead at Apptile, ex-Co-Founder (Product & GTM) at Poppins
Madmods is building a visual vibe coding platform - (Roblox meets MIT Scratch) - where kids can create epic 3D worlds and games in minutes.
HQ: India
Industry: Technology, Information and Internet
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 6 months
Amy Rochford - Co-Founder at Axo Neurotech
🔎Featured Founder under stealth mode in StealthStartupSpy#251
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Doctorate Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Member of the Technical Team at Science, PhD in Bioelectronics & Neuroscience at University of Cambridge
Axo is developing advanced neural interfaces at the intersection of biology and engineering.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Biotechnology Research | Team Size: 2
Co-Founder: Nathan J. (Co-Founder at SwellCycle, ex-Director at Moxion Power) - connect via email
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 4 months
Maire Orusaar - Founder & COO at Numa
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Member at Chief, ex-SVP, Global Digital at FORMA Brands, ex-Digital Strategy Advisor at Happy Cog, ex-Director of Product & Growth at Beauty Labs, a Amyris (NASDAQ:AMRS) company
Numa is a platform that lets SMBs instantly deploy and manage AI agents.
HQ: Remote
Industry: Information Services | Team Size: 3
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 3 months
Katrina Laszlo - Co-Founder at Tanso
FounderDNA: Serial Founder
Prior Experience: Ex-Product at Artisan, ex-Product & Design Lead at Chipper, ex-Senior Product Manager, Web & Applications at People Data Labs
Connect on: LinkedIn
Tanso is building a no-code monetization platform that helps SaaS teams launch pricing faster, run experiments, and automate what works
HQ: United States
Industry: Software Development
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 3 months
🕵️♂️Key Talent Going Under Stealth
Illuminating clues left behind by world class talent and influential innovators who just went into stealth mode
Akshesh Shah - Co-Founder & CEO at Stealth AI Startup
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Ex-Senior Machine Learning Engineer at C3 AI, Fractal, Google, and VideoAmp
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Jose, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 4 months
Bryce Schmidtchen - Founder at Stealth
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Senior AR/VR Software Engineer (Vision Pro) at Apple, ex-Co-Founder at Pengram (YC W19), ex-AR/VR Researcher at UC Berkeley
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 7 months
David Budden - Founder & CEO at Stealth
FounderDNA: Former FAANG, Top 10 University, Doctorate Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Director of Engineering at Google Deepmind, ex-Limited Partner at Blackbird, ex-Researcher at MIT
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 3 months
Assaf Sagy - CEO at Stealth
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Head of Global Gaming at Tiktok, ex-Commercial Lead (Israel) at Snap, ex-VP of Business Development at Playbuzz
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Israel
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 month
Mandy Lu - Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Former FAANG, Top 10 University, Masters Degree, Doctorate Degree
Prior Experience: Pear VC Fellow, ex-ML Engineer at Google, ex-Researcher at Stanford AI Lab, Intered at Apple, NVIDIA and Time Warner
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 months
🚨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.







