Stealth Startup Spy #341
Former Snap neural interfaces director goes stealth, Ex-Meta research director builds recursive superintelligence for knowledge discovery, & SpaceX EM and Matter Labs CTO enters 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:
Snap neural interfaces director, and NextMind founder (acquired by Snap) enters stealth
Harvard MBA and ex-Google PM is building a process intelligence platform to map and redesign enterprise operations
Ex-Figure and Dexterity robotics founding engineer enters stealth
Former Meta Research Director and CMU robotics PhD is building recursive self-improving superintelligence to automate knowledge discovery
SpaceX engineering manager and Matter Labs CTO 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
Yuandong Tian - Co-Founder at Recursive
🔎 Featured Founder under stealth mode in StealthStartupSpy#303
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Doctorate Degree, Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Research Director at Meta (11 years), PhD at Carnegie Mellon University, Software Engineer at Google
Recursive is building a recursive self-improving superintelligence platform to automate knowledge discovery.
HQ: United States
Industry: Artificial Intelligence, Research & Development | Team Size: 27
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 6 Months
Tanay Padhi - Co-Founder at Drawbridge
FounderDNA: Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University, Serial Founder
Prior Experience: Head of Product at Orby AI, Product Manager at Google, Venture Scout at Andreessen Horowitz, Product Manager at Found, Harvard MBA
Drawbridge is a process intelligence platform that maps how enterprise operations actually run, enabling teams to redesign workflows with confidence.
HQ: United States
Industry: Enterprise SaaS, Process Intelligence | Team Size: 4
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 7 Months
Shihan Tao - Founder & CEO at Dekopon AI
🔎 Featured Founder under stealth mode in StealthStartupSpy#279
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Director - Head of Product Engineering at Nuro, Engineering Manager at Google, Senior Software Engineer at Fitbit, Stanford GSB
Connect on: LinkedIn
Dekopon AI deploys AI agents for frontline operations including customer support, recruiting, training, and task tracking, upgrading enterprise workflows to AI-native.
HQ: United States
Industry: Artificial Intelligence, Enterprise SaaS
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 7 Months
Akshay Trikha - Founder at Madrone
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: ML Engineer, Office of the CTO at QuantumScape, Graduate Student Researcher at UC Berkeley College of Engineering, Researcher at Sandia National Laboratories
Connect on: LinkedIn
Madrone builds dew-point cooling systems for data centers, delivering 30% reductions in power and water consumption compared to conventional methods, with an initial focus on Texas.
HQ: United States
Industry: CleanTech, Data Center Infrastructure | Team Size: 2
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 7 Months
Alex Campbell - Co-Founder at Type
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Senior Product Manager at Meta, Product Manager at Twitter, Co-Founder at Peak Podcasting, Senior Product Manager at HackerOne
Connect on: LinkedIn
Type is a multiplayer AI platform enabling teams to create AI teammates that integrate with company tools across marketing, sales, support, coding, and more.
HQ: United States
Industry: Artificial Intelligence, B2B SaaS | Team Size: 4
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 Year
🕵️♂️Key Talent Going Under Stealth
Illuminating clues left behind by world class talent and influential innovators who just went into stealth mode
Sid Kouider - CEO and Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Doctorate Degree, Top 10 University, Prior Exit
Prior Experience: Founder & CEO at NextMind (acquired by Snap), Director of Neural Interfaces at Snap Inc., Professor at CNRS
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 Months
Harry Su - CEO and Co-Founder at Stealth Robotics Startup
Building next-generation contact-aware robotics infrastructure for domestic manufacturing.
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Doctorate Degree, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Founding Engineer & Robotics Lead at Dexterity, Inc., Robotics Manipulation AI Engineer at Figure, Research Assistant at Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Head of Robotics Engineering at Tacta Systems
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 3 Months
Anthony Rose - Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Doctorate Degree, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: CTO at Matter Labs, Senior Software Engineering Manager at SpaceX, Data Science Manager at Uber, Data Scientist at Expedia
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 3 Months
Peeyush Kumar - CEO/Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Doctorate Degree
Prior Experience: Senior Research Scientist at Microsoft Research, Co-founder/CTO at Engooden Health, Cofounder at Cohort Intelligence, Senior Director of Engineering at TransformativeMed
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 5 Months
Julien Jaber - Co-Founder at Stealth
FounderDNA: Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Research Assistant at UC Berkeley, Applied Data Scientist at Meta, Sr. Data Scientist at Uber
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 5 Months
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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.