Stealth Startup Spy #364
Co-creator of Google’s AlphaChip brings agentic AI to chip design, Meta & Microsoft engineer goes stealth, & Ex-DeepMind scientist verifies AI agents against spec
🚀 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:
Ex-Apple hardware architect reinvents chip design with AI agents and formal-proof verification
Ex-VP of Engineering at Homejoy and Homeaglow goes stealth
Co-creator of Google’s AlphaChip brings agentic AI to Electronic Design Automation
Ex-Meta/Twitter/Microsoft engineer builds something new in stealth
Ex-DeepMind research scientist verifies AI agent behavior against spec at new company
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
Shwetabh Verma - Co-Founder at TenX Semi
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Doctorate Degree, Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Prior Exit, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Senior Group Director at Cadence Design Systems, Hardware Architect at Apple, IC Design Manager at Broadcom, PhD Electrical Engineering from Stanford University
Connect on: LinkedIn
TenX Semi is reinventing chip design around autonomous AI design agents that dramatically shorten design timelines while simultaneously improving design quality.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Semiconductor Design, Autonomous Chip Design | Team Size: 3
Key Investors: Agi House, SeaX Ventures
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 15 Months
Mustafa Yazgan - Co-Founder at Reticore Labs
🔎 Featured Founder under stealth mode in StealthStartupSpy#358
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Former FAANG, Prior Exit
Prior Experience: Staff Software Engineer at Google (co-creator of AlphaChip, published in Nature), Senior Principal R&D Engineer at Ansys, Founder at Gear Design Solutions (acquired by ANSYS, 2015)
Reticore Labs is building the next-generation platform to empower hardware engineering teams to deliver better chips, faster.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: EDA, Agentic AI for Hardware | Team Size: 6
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 4 Months
Sejal G. - Founder at Guild Robotics
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Founding Engineer at Sensei Agent (Sutter Hill Ventures portfolio), Researcher at Sutter Hill Ventures, Machine Learning Researcher at MIT CSAIL, SDE Intern at Amazon Fulfillment Technologies & Robotics
Guild Robotics is building robotics for logistics, pairing automation with the people already running the warehouse floor to expand what fulfillment teams can do.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Robotics, Logistics Automation
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 5 Months
Ahmad Beirami - Co-Founder & CEO at Fidian
🔎 Featured Founder under stealth mode 36 weeks ago
FounderDNA: Doctorate Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Research Scientist at Google DeepMind, Research Scientist at Meta (Facebook AI), Research Scientist at Google, Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT and Harvard
Fidian verifies every decision an AI agent makes against its spec, in both development and production, catching agent behavior that drifts from what it was actually supposed to do.
HQ: United States
Industry: AI Agent Safety, Evaluation Infrastructure | Team Size: 2
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 12 Months
Praveen Chandran - Founder at ArceeHQ
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Product at PayZen, Product at Affirm, Product at Google, MBA, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business
ArceeHQ unifies claims denial management, patient financing, and financial assistance under one intelligent platform, built for health system CFOs and revenue cycle leaders.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Healthcare RevCycle AI, Agentic Platforms
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 19 Months
🕵️♂️Key Talent Going Under Stealth
Illuminating clues left behind by world class talent and influential innovators who just went into stealth mode
Mark Linsey - Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: VP of Engineering at Homeaglow, VP of Engineering at Homejoy, Software Engineering Manager at Google, Co-Founder at Crowdbooster
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: New York City, New York, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 Months
Utkarsh Garg - Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Sr. Manager - Engineering at Uber, Co-Founder at LearnEd, BS Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 8 Months
Aditya Bansal - Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Software Engineer at Google, Co-Founder at Stociall, Co-Founder at EdMad, MBA Candidate - MIT Sloan (Class of 2027)
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 6 Months
Naga Samineni - Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Prior Exit
Prior Experience: Co-Founder at Metakeep Cryptography (acquired), Senior Software Engineer - Global Payments at Facebook, Senior Software Engineer - User Data & Social Graph at Twitter, Software Engineer at Microsoft
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 5 Months
Dean Falconer - Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Former FAANG
Prior Experience: Director of Product Management at Compass, Co-Founder & Head of Product and Operations at Pro.com, Technical Advisor to SVP of Seller Services at Amazon
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Seattle, Washington, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 3 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.