Stealth Startup Spy #45
Ex-Paypal Director of Engineering unveils crypto-focused fintech venture, DevOps startup exits stealth with seed funding led by Google Ventures, & Ex-Coinbase Engineer debuts YC-backed AI platform
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 track billions of data points to help you identify tomorrow's opportunities that are currently hiding in the shadows. These signals include tracking the inflows and outflows of talent who work at “Stealth Startups”, bios and profile changes to “building something new” and monitoring press releases to shine a light on the hidden world of stealth startups.
In this issue of the Stealth Startup Spy, here is what we will uncover:
Ex-Paypal Director of Engineering launches Web3 payment network to connect banks & cards to your crypto apps (waitlist only)
Ex-Head of Product at Uber and Netlify is building in stealth mode
Ex-Coinbase Software Engineer launches YC-backed platform to help source and place bids on government contracts
Platform to automate API creation emerges from stealth with seed funding led by Google Ventures
Ex-Instacart Director of Engineering is building a stealth AI startup
Cybersecurity and AI company building a “firewall for media” exits 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
Ali Aghareza - Co-Founder & CTO at Meso
FounderDNA: Technical Founder
Prior Experience: Ex-Senior Director Of Engineering, Braintree at PayPal
Connect on: LinkedIn
Meso enables developers to connect banks and cards to crpyto apps.
HQ: United States
Industry: Financial Services | Team Size: 5
Latest Funding: $9.5M Seed Round on 5/17/2023
Key Investors: Ribbit Capital, Solana Ventures, 6th Man Ventures, Anand Iyer (Canonical Crypto), Chris Kalani (Phantom), Archie Puri
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 17 months
Natalie Fridman - Co-Founder & CTO at Clarity
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Doctorate Degree, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-SVP R&D at ISI - ImageSat International, ex-AI Lead at Elbit Systems,
Connect on: LinkedIn
Clarity is a cybersecurity and AI company that preserves trust in digital media by distinguishing between authentic and synthetic (deepfake) content.
HQ: Tel-Aviv, Israel
Industry: Software Development | Team Size: 18
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 6 months
Hugo Mercier - Founder at Gekko
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Co-founder and ex-CEO at Dreem (raised $60M), LP at Shift Capital
Connect on: LinkedIn
Gekko is the first plug-and-play solution to help web3 companies get optimal liquidity at any time.
HQ: Paris, France
Industry: Blockchain Services | Team Size: 3
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 15 months
Sachin Subramanian - Co-Founder & CEO at Sweetspot
FounderDNA: Technical Founder
Prior Experience: Ex-Software Engineer at Coinbase, ex-Machine Learning Intern at Intel Corporation
Connect on: LinkedIn
Sweetspot helps source and place bids on government contracts that best match your company's services.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Software Development | Team Size: 2
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 7 months
Sagar Batchu - Co-Founder & CEO at Speakeasy
FounderDNA: Technical Founder
Prior Experience: Ex-Director of Engineering at LiveRamp, Ex-Software Engineer at Enlighted
Connect on: LinkedIn
Speakeasy is a developer-first API Ops platform that enables developers to offer best-in-class API DevEx to API consumers.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Software Development | Team Size: 9
Latest Funding: $7.6M Seed Round on 6/30/2023 | Total Amount Raised: $11M
Key Investors: Google Ventures, Quiet Capital, Flex Capital, StoryHouse Ventures and Firestreak Ventures
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 14 months
🕵️♂️Key Talent Going Under Stealth
Illuminating clues left behind by world class talent and influential innovators who just went into stealth mode
Shane Wey - CEO at Stealth
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Ex-Director Of Engineering at Instacart, Co-founder of MightySignal (acquired by Instacart), UC Berkeley alum
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Applying generative AI to enterprise
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 7 months
Tom Hubregtsen - Founder at Stealth
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Doctorate Degree, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-PhD Resident- Quantum Physics at X, the moonshot factory, Co-Founder of PushQuantum, ex-Lead Quantum Computing at BMW Group, ex-IBM
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 12 months
Pradeep Pandey - Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Head of Data Engineering and Analytics at Huspy and GoldenScent, ex-Senior Data Engineer at Flipkart and MiQ
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 5 months
Ryan Chow - Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Ex-Product Manager, Starlink Network Engineering at SpaceX
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 months
Akram Hussein - Founder & CEO at Stealth Mode
FounderDNA: Technical Founder
Prior Experience: Ex-VP of Product, Design and Growth at Netlify, ex-Head of Product at Uber, ex-Sr Director of Product Management at Dell EMC
Connect on: LinkedIn
HQ: Greater Seattle Area, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 6 months
Stay Stealthy,
Drake
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