Stealth Startup Spy #338
Ex-Cruise AI Director builds self-driving personal finance, VoiceBase founder ($120M exit) returns with AI finance venture, & Ex-Dropbox & Facebook designer with Perplexity exit goes stealth
🚀 We just launched a new newsletter — Company Launch Tracker.
We’re tracking company launches as they happen and surfacing the most interesting new founders and startups (yes, all outside of this stealth activity too). If you want to stay ahead of the curve, this is where you’ll find them first.
Right now we’ve got 5 subscribers: my wife, my mom, and that high school buddy who won’t stop pitching me his app. Be smart like them and get in early 👇
We run a live feed inside Gravity that tracks founders entering stealth and companies quietly exiting it.
What you’re reading here is about 1% of the stealth activity we pick up. The full tracker updates in real time as things change and new activity emerges.
If you want earlier access to everything, book some time with us to stay ahead.
In this issue of the Stealth Startup Spy, here is what we will uncover:
Former Director of AI at Cruise (launched SF's first commercial robotaxi) is building self-driving personal finance
Ex-Dropbox and Facebook designer, repeat founder with an exit to Perplexity, enters stealth
YC alum and ex-Director of Operations at Traba is building a specialty insurance placement platform for retail agents
VoiceBase founder ($120M exit to LivePerson) is back with a new stealth venture at the intersection of AI and finance
Former Tesla AI Hardware Technical Director enters stealth
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
Ambrish Tyagi - Founder & CEO at Rivo
🔎 Featured Founder under stealth mode in StealthStartSpy#2267
FounderDNA: Doctorate Degree, Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Director of AI at Cruise, Head of AI – Halo & Principal Scientist at Amazon Lab126, AI Advisor at Bain Capital Ventures, Fellow at South Park Commons
Connect on: LinkedIn
Rivo is an autonomous personal finance platform that sweeps idle cash from checking accounts into higher-yield instruments, monitors spending, and returns funds before bills are due, without requiring users to change banks or habits.
HQ: United States
Industry: FinTech, Personal Finance, AI | Team Size: 2
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 Year 2 Months
Sebastian Bugal - Founder at Mercora
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder
Prior Experience: Entrepreneur in Residence at Antler, AI & ML Software Engineer at KPMG Switzerland, Machine Learning Engineer at Alessa (Tier1 Financial Solutions), Co-Founder at Kliq Social, Founding Engineer at Vezgo
Connect on: LinkedIn
Mercora is a B2B SaaS platform that automates trade documentation reconciliation for commodity trading, using AI to extract structured data, match documents to trades, and flag discrepancies.
HQ: Switzerland
Industry: FinTech, Supply Chain, B2B SaaS
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 4 Months
Luke Button - Co-Founder & CEO at Hedge
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Prior Exit
Prior Experience: Co-Founder & CEO at Fernstone (YCF25), Director of Operations at Traba, Head of Growth at Antimetal, Co-Founder at Contrast (acquired)
Connect on: LinkedIn
Hedge is a specialty insurance placement platform for retail agents, providing direct access to specialty markets through a single submission.
HQ: United States
Industry: InsurTech | Team Size: 2
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 3 months
Stephen Fong - Co-Founder at Castellan AI
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Head of Business Operations & GTM at Eventual, Head of Business Operations & Revenue Strategy at Unity, Financial Analyst at J.P. Morgan, UC Berkeley alum
Connect on: LinkedIn
Castellan AI is a 24/7 AI platform for property managers, handling leasing, maintenance, and operations end-to-end.
HQ: United States
Industry: PropTech, AI Agents, B2B SaaS
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 3 Months
Waldo Rabie - Founder at Zoont Health
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder
Prior Experience: Co-Founder & CTO at Rezon.ai, Co-Founder & CTO at Keepsake, Co-Founder & CTO at Pegasus Innovations, Senior Engineer at Klarna, Founding Engineer at Cincinnati Ventures
Connect on: LinkedIn
Zoont Health is a direct primary care platform offering unlimited physician access for a flat monthly fee, with same-day appointments, labs and prescriptions at cost, and AI-assisted health insights drawn from records and wearable data (no insurance required.)
HQ: United States
Industry: HealthTech, Direct Primary Care
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 5 Months
🕵️♂️Key Talent Going Under Stealth
Illuminating clues left behind by world class talent and influential innovators who just went into stealth mode
Hadi Goudarzi - Co-Founder at Stealth AI Startup
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Doctorate Degree, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Technical Director of AI Hardware at Tesla, PhD in Electrical Engineering at University of Southern California, Senior Staff Engineer & Manager at Qualcomm
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Mountain View, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 Months
Walter Bachtiger - Founder & CEO at Stealth Startup
Building at the intersection of AI and finance.
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Prior Exit
Prior Experience: Founder & CEO at VoiceBase (acquired by LivePerson), VP of Voice AI at LivePerson, CTO at International Training Institute, Head of Distribution Strategies & Channel Development at Swiss Union of Raiffeisen Banks
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 Months
Colin Dunn - Founder & CEO at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Head of Design, Computer at Perplexity, Founder & CEO at Visual Electric (acquired by Perplexity; featured at launch in October 2023), Product Designer at Dropbox, Product Designer at Facebook
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 Months
Badri Srinivasan - Co-Founder & CEO at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Group Product Manager, Machine Learning at Attentive, Group Product Manager, Machine Learning at Wayfair, Data Scientist / MLE at BCG GAMMA
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 Months
Fabien Chraim - Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Doctorate Degree, Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: UC Berkeley PhD, Principal Applied Scientist at Amazon Web Services (AWS), Co-Founder & CTO at Civil Maps
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: 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.