Stealth Startup Spy #335 - by Drake Dukes
Stealth Startup Spy #335
OpenAI/ElevenLabs engineer raises $12M to build a new human-AI computer, Rice PhD and Dartmouth Health AI director goes stealth, & Ex-Zapier SVP and Google alum builds revenue intelligence platform
Apr 30, 2026
🚀 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-OpenAI and ElevenLabs engineer is building a new computer for the next era of human-AI interaction (raised $12M)
-
Rice bioengineering PhD and Dartmouth Health AI director enters stealth
-
Former Zapier SVP, ex-Google Robotics, and Frog Design alum is building a revenue intelligence layer
-
UChicago Booth MBA, Actuate CEO/Co-Founder, and USMC veteran enters stealth
-
Former Carta, Salesforce, and Apple product leader is building a revenue platform that deploys AI agents to automate post-sales customer success
-
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
Yu Su - Co-Founder & CEO at NeoCognition
FounderDNA: Doctorate Degree
Prior Experience: Senior Researcher at Microsoft, Associate Professor at The Ohio State University, Sloan Research Fellow
Connect on:LinkedIn
Co-founder:Xiang Deng (Senior Research Scientist at Scale AI, Research Engineer at Google)
NeoCognition is an AI agent lab building specialized intelligence agents that continuously learn toward expert-level capability
HQ: United States
Industry: Artificial Intelligence, AI Agents, Deep Tech | Team Size: 12
Latest Funding: $40M Seed Round on 4/21/2026
Key Investors: Cambium Capital, Walden Catalyst Ventures, Vista Equity Partners
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 9 Months
Daniel Edrisian - Founder at Blackstar
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Member of Technical Staff at OpenAI, Software Engineer at ElevenLabs, Founder at Alex (YC F24), Software Engineering Intern at Google & Facebook & Apple
Connect on:LinkedIn
Blackstar is building a new computer to unlock major improvements in human-AI interaction
HQ: United States
Industry: Human-Computer Interaction, AI Hardware, Deep Tech | Team Size: 2
Latest Funding: $12M Seed Round on 4/23/2026
Key Investors: Abstract Ventures, SV Angel, Naval Ravikant, Chapter One, Timeless Partners
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 Months
Anton Kravchenko - Co-Founder & CEO at Sonora
🔎 Featured Founder under stealth mode inStealthStartupSpy#286
FounderDNA: Masters Degree, Former FAANG, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Senior Director of Product Management at Carta, Director of Product Management at Salesforce, Senior Product Manager at MuleSoft, Product at Apple
Sonora is a revenue platform for post-sales teams that deploys AI agents across a book of business to automate customer outreach, score account health, and surface expansion and renewal signals.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Revenue Operations, AI Agents, B2B SaaS | Team Size: 4
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 Year 1 Month
Kate Deyneka - Founder at Reelful
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Machine Learning Engineer at Snap, MS at UC Irvine, MS at TU Delft & Erasmus University Rotterdam
Connect on:LinkedIn
Reelful is an agentic video editor available on iOS.
HQ: United States
Industry: AI, Video Editing, Consumer Apps
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 6 Months
Sheryl Soo - Co-Founder at ACRONYM
FounderDNA: Serial Founder
Prior Experience: SVP Strategy & Head of New Products at Zapier, Senior Director Product Design at Hootsuite, Ex-Google Robotics, Ex-Frog Design
ACRONYM is a revenue intelligence layer that connects to a team’s existing stack, surfaces actionable insights from deals, calls, and conversations, and delivers them where teams already work — without requiring anyone to ask.
HQ: Canada
Industry: Revenue Intelligence, GTM AI, B2B SaaS | Team Size: 4
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 4 Months
🕵️♂️Key Talent Going Under Stealth
Illuminating clues left behind by world class talent and influential innovators who just went into stealth mode
Brady Hunt - Founder at Stealth
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Doctorate Degree
Prior Experience: PhD in Bioengineering at Rice University, Director of AI at Artisight, Clinical Associate Professor at Dartmouth Health, Research Scientist at Dartmouth College
Connect on:LinkedIn
HQ: United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 Month
Sonny Tai - Founder at Stealth AI Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Masters Degree, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: MBA at University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder at Actuate, USMC Veteran
Connect on:LinkedIn
HQ: New York, New York, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 Months
Austin Yoshino - Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Prior Exit
Prior Experience: CEO (acquired) at Anja Health, Growth Hacker at Novel Ventures, Founder at Joyn Chat, Special Projects at Noa Botanicals
Connect on:LinkedIn
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 1 Month
Liza Goldstein - Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Masters Degree, Prior Exit
Prior Experience: Co-Founder & CEO (exited) at Noa by Swappin, Product Manager at Pinterest, Product & Communications Manager at Airbus
Connect on:LinkedIn
HQ: United States
Time Spent in Stealth Mode: 2 Months
Fred Dogan - Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Prior Exit
Prior Experience: CEO & Co-Founder at Permify (acquired by FusionAuth), Co-Founder at Fluffzy Product Studio, Co-Founder at Jooseph
Connect on:LinkedIn
HQ: 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
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 onX / 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.