Stealth Startup Spy #344
Former Apple Siri & Roblox ML scientist enters stealth, Ex-Ogilvy PE operator builds AI for the full PE deal lifecycle, & Ex-Lyft hardware director exits stealth with $12M to test hardware in seconds
🚀 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 Apple Siri and Roblox Foundation AI ML scientist enters stealth
Former Ogilvy partner and serial PE operator is building the AI infrastructure platform that runs the full deal lifecycle for private equity firms
Ex-Snap Bitmoji design head and Meta/Netflix veteran enters stealth
Google DeepMind UX research lead for Bard & Gemini enters stealth
Former Lyft Director of Hardware Engineering exits stealth with $12M seed to let engineers test real hardware changes in seconds instead of weeks
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
Rodrigo Capdevielle - Co-CEO & Founder at Arkimedes
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Top 10 University, Prior Exit
Prior Experience: CEO & Co-Founder at Hikko, Director & Partner at Ogilvy, CEO & Co-Founder at Alan (acquired by Delivery Hero)
Co-Founcer & Co-CEO: Maximiliano Casal (Co-Founder at Nowports - YC W19 unicorn)
Arkimedes is an AI infrastructure platform for private equity firms, offering five integrated modules covering the full deal lifecycle built for large-cap PE, mid-market PE, and corporate development teams.
HQ: New York, United States
Industry: FinTech, Private Equity, Enterprise AI | Team Size: 8
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 Year 4 Months
Antoine A. Ruzette - Co-Founder at Timper
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Top 10 University, Masters Degree, Doctorate Degree
Prior Experience: Data Scientist at McKinsey & Company, Computational Biologist at Harvard Medical School, Co-Founder & CEO at Expand Consulting, Co-Founder, ML at Maka Media
Timper runs feasibility studies to assess whether a project will receive permits before capital is committed.
HQ: Belgium
Industry: PropTech, Construction Tech, B2B SaaS | Team Size: 4
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 3 Months
Shay Shwartz - Co-Founder & CEO at Ocean
FounderDNA: Technical Founder
Prior Experience: Security Team Lead at Axis Security, Cyber Security Researcher at Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Security Research & Development at Israel Defense Forces
Ocean is an agentic email security platform that uses purpose-built AI agents to detect malicious intent in targeted and novel email attacks, replacing legacy pattern-based detection with context-aware analysis at enterprise scale.
HQ: New York, United States
Industry: Cybersecurity, Email Security, AI | Team Size: 2
Latest Funding: $28M Series A Round on 5/19/2026
Key Investors: Lightspeed Venture Partners, Picture Capital and Cerca Partners
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 Years
AJ Cooper - Co-Founder & CEO at Itera
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Doctorate Degree
Prior Experience: Director of Hardware Engineering at Lyft, Head of Electrical Engineering (Jump) at Uber, Director of Engineering at Flex, Co-Founder/Director of Hardware Engineering at Olio Devices
Connect on: LinkedIn
Itera is the only company enabling engineers to test real hardware changes in seconds instead of weeks through breakthrough fluid circuit technology.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Hard Tech, Engineering Tools | Team Size: 10
Latest Funding: $12M Seed Round on 5/27/2026
Key Investors: Upfront Ventures, Costanoa Ventures, Colle Capital
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 years 5 months
Haris Javed-Akhtar - Founder & CEO at Panacea
Prior Experience: Partnerships Lead at Anterior, Imperial College London (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery)
Panacea pairs experienced ex-FDA regulatory consultants with an AI platform to deliver the fastest and lowest-cost pathway to FDA approval, offering fixed outcome-based pricing across all major regulatory pathways.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: HealthTech, Regulatory Technology, Biotechnology | Team Size: 2
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
Mahesh Nandwana - Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Technical Lead/ML Scientist (Siri Perception) at Apple, Senior Principal ML Scientist (Foundation AI) at Roblox, Advanced Computer Scientist (Speech Technology and Research Lab )at SRI International
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 Month
Cam Langs - Founder at Stealth AI Startup
Building privacy-first productivity tools for people who work across many browser-based apps.
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Head of Bitmoji Design at Snap Inc., Art Manager, Avatars at Meta, Engineering Manager at Netflix
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 Month
Kent Gillenwater - Co-Founder / CTO at Stealth Startup
Building a new product at the intersection of SaaS, AI, growth, and monetization.
FounderDNA: Technical Founder
Prior Experience: Director of Engineering - Product Led Growth at DocuSign, Head of Engineering at Atlassian, Lead Engineer/Architect at Taleris
Connect on: LinkedIn
Co-Founder and CEO: Mark Miller (General Manager and Head of Product - Business Prime at Amazon)
HQ: Seattle, Washington, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 Month
Kyle Morgan - Founder at Stealth AI Startup
FounderDNA: Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Lead UXR (Bard & Gemini) at Google DeepMind, Lead UXR, Applied AI / Enterprise AI Agents at Google, Head of Digital Experience at Vocus Group Limited, UX Design Research Manager at AGL Energy
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 Month
Vera Chichagova - Co-Founder & CEO at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Director Regulatory Compliance at OKX, Group Head of Regulatory Compliance at Revolut, Vice President Compliance at Barclays Investment Bank
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Francisco, California, 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
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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.