Stealth Startup Spy #346
Ex-BCG & Ardent VC principal builds voice AI that interviews entire orgs, Triple FAANG lead builds ambient safety monitoring for senior care, & Broadlume founder builds AI OS for home services
🚀 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 BCG Digital Ventures Principal and Ardent VC Partner is building voice AI that interviews your entire organization in days
Two-time founder with exits at Zego and Brightergy, and former DOE senior advisor, enters stealth
Triple FAANG tech lead (Google, Apple, Amazon) launches AI-powered ambient safety monitoring for senior care
Kellogg MBA and former product leader at HubSpot, Square, and Thumbtack enters stealth
Founder of Broadlume (acquired by Cyncly) is building the AI operating system for home services trades
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
Dan Preiss - CEO & Co-Founder at Cadrian
FounderDNA: Serial Founder
Prior Experience: Partner at Ardent Venture Partners, Ex-Principal at BCG Digital Ventures, Ex-Principal at Boston Consulting Group, Ex-Senior Product Manager at Munchery, Ex-Senior Product Manager at Totango
Co-Founder: Chris Young (former CEO of McAfee, EVP at Microsoft, and current CEO of Vertex), Akash Gupta (MS MS&E and BS CS @ Stanford | Accel Fellow)
Cadrian uses voice AI that actually interviews your entire organization. Real conversations, hundreds at once, each one shaping the questions in the next, the way a great interviewer would. What a McKinsey team or forward-deployed engineer does in months, Cadrian does across your whole org in days.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Software | Team Size: 6
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 10 months
Investors: Pre-seed led by Ardent Venture Partners with participation from A16z Scout Fund
Traction Under Stealth: In beta with early paying customers to iterate on the product and seeking the next cohort of customers.
Arif Dikici - Co-Founder & CEO at Leafra AI
🔎 Featured Founder under stealth mode in StealthStartupSpy#260
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Ex-Tech Lead Manager at Google, ex-Staff Software Engineer at Apple, ex-Tech Lead Manager - Echo Neural Network Accelerator at Amazon, ex-Tech Lead Manager at Evertz and Magnum
Co-Founder: Damon Dvorson (2.time founder UCSB grad)
Leafra AI is building the world’s smartest ambience intelligence system for senior care facilities called Jasemin. Jasemin protects residents / reduces incidents, improves staff efficiency and reduces litigation risk, using the state of the art AI models with a single -off the shelf- vision sensor, no other sensors, no wearables - deployed in 10 mins. No human can see into resident rooms and no visual data is stored on servers. Recently won California Assisted Living Association’s most innovative company award.
HQ: San Francisco Bay, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 10 months
Traction Under Stealth: Currently raising. Launched 4 pilots across reputable facilities with $8.5M ACV potential.
Shaurya Agarwal - Founder & CEO at RiderAI
FounderDNA: Masters Degree, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Staff Product Manager - Applied AI at Zoox, Head of Product at Gatik, Director of Product at Motional, Senior Product Manager at Cisco
RiderAI is building the intelligence layer to make the world's 1.2 billion two-wheelers (motorcycles and mopeds) as safe as cars, starting with an AI copilot to assist riders and help them avoid crashes in real time.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Autonomous Vehicles, AI Infrastructure
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 8 months
Todd Saunders - Co-Founder & CEO at Dalton Mills
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Former FAANG, Prior Exit
Prior Experience: Co-Founder & CEO at Broadlume (acquired by Cyncly), Founding member of Accelerated Growth team at Google
Connect on: LinkedIn
Dalton Mills is the AI operating system for commercial and residential trades. Plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing, pest control, and other home service businesses run their dispatch, scheduling, quoting, invoicing, payments, and CRM on Dalton Mills.
HQ: New York, New York, United States
Industry: Software Development | Team Size: 3
Latest Funding: $9.2M Funding Round on 5/27/2026
Key Investors: Founder Collective, FPV Ventures
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 month
Ido Gedanken - Co-Founder & CEO at Piper AI
FounderDNA: Technical Founder
Prior Experience: Product Manager at Microsoft, Software Engineer & Product Manager at Capsulab
Piper AI is an end-to-end platform for construction pursuit and preconstruction teams, streamlining the bid management process from initial review to final submission.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Construction Tech, B2B SaaS | Team Size: 6
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 9 Months
🕵️♂️Key Talent Going Under Stealth
Illuminating clues left behind by world class talent and influential innovators who just went into stealth mode
John Aguillard - Chief Executive Officer at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Engineering Fellow & Investor at Andreessen Horowitz, Mission Management – Starshield at SpaceX, RF/Antenna Engineer – Starshield Satellites at SpaceX, MS at Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Austin, Texas, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 Months
Adam Blake - Founder at Stealth
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Prior Exit
Prior Experience: Co-Founder & CEO at Zego (acquired), Founder & CEO at Brightergy (acquired), Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Energy at U.S. Department of Energy, Founding Investor at CarePilot
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Diego Metropolitan Area, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 6 Months
Xide Xia - Co-Founder at Stealth AI Startup
FounderDNA: Doctorate Degree, Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Computer Science PhD at Boston University, Harvard alum, Staff Research Scientist at Meta, Student Researcher at Google
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 Months
David Dong - Founder / CEO at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Head of ML Infra at SambaNova, Software Engineer at Amazon Web Services
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 Months
Reuben George - Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: MBA at Northwestern Kellogg, Senior Director of Product at Self Financial, Principal Product Manager at HubSpot, Product Lead – Discovery at Square, Principal Product Manager at Thumbtack
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 Month
🚨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.