Specter Monitor #115 🌹

Specter Monitor is a data-driven newsletter for investors interested in learning about the latest market trends, signals, and opportunities. Our audience includes some of the most legendary VC investors in the world. We’ll work hard to bring you actionable insights into what’s happening in today’s markets while celebrating data-driven wins and predictions. ✨

L’amoureux (The lover) Painting by Agnès Lefèvre

🔮 Talents of the Week

Specter tracks real-time top talents movements across the world to detect actionable investment opportunities before anyone else.

🪄 Predicted:

Mo Halwy (US, 2020): Co-Founder, CTO at Shepherd.

Featured by Specter on: 2022 - Week 27.

Advantage on Latest Funding Round: 586 Days.

Description: Shepherd is an Insurtech that offers tech-enabled insurance for commercial construction.

Prev. Experience: Engineering @ AirBnb, Software Engineer @ Peek.com, Software Engineer @ Tilt.com.

Total Funding: $19.6M / $13.5M Latest Series A on 02-2024.

Notable Investors: Costanoa Ventures, Era Ventures, Greenlight Reinsurance, Intact Ventures, Spark Capital.

👻 Opportunity:

Brian Long (US, 2024): CEO & Co-Founder at Stealth Startup.

Featured by Specter on: 2024 - Week 05.

Prev. Experience: CEO & Co-Founder @ Attentive, Author @ Problem Hunting: the tech startup textbook; Co-Founder & Partner @ Lunar Holdings, Sr Director @ Twitter, CEO & Co-Founder @ TapCommerce (Acquired), Network Sales Manager & Account Director @ CBS Interactive.

🎱 Strategic Signals

Inspired by Michael Lewis’ Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game - Strategic Intelligence is a stealth engine that tracks online and social behaviour of corporate insiders and leading investors.

🪄 Predicted:

Lilac Solutions (US, 2016) - Featured by Specter on: 2022 - Week 37.

Advantage on Latest Funding Round: 586 Days.

Description: Lilac Solutions develops an ion exchange technology to address the challenges faced by lithium producers.

Total Funding: $368.6M / $145M Latest Series C on 02-2024.

Notable Investors: Aventurine Partners, BMW i Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Engine Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Mercuria, Mitsubishi Corporation, Presidio Ventures, T. Rowe Price, The Nature Conservancy, ONE WORLD Impact Investments LLC, Earthshot Ventures, SK Materials, Mount Wilson Ventures, My Climate Journey Collective, Valor Equity Partners, Tribeca Early Stage Partners, Prime Impact Fund, PRIME Coalition, Stanton Green, Grantham Foundation, Zero Carbon Capital, E8 Angels.

👻 Opportunity:

Lilac AI (US, 2023) - Featured by Specter on: 2024 - Week 05.

Description: Lilac is a tool for the exploration, curation, and quality control of datasets for training, fine-tuning, and monitoring LLMs.

Total Funding: N/A.

Notable Investors: N/A.

Signal: Increased VC Interest in 02/2024.

🍒 Cherry-Picked Companies

Specter tracks the alternative data performance of millions of companies and, on a monthly basis, flags the ones who are likely to increase in valuation.

🪄 Predicted:

Mechanical Orchard (US, 2022) - Specter Rank: 2,265 📈

Description: Mechanical Orchard builds AI-enhanced tools and disciplined methods to continuously modernize, operate, and innovate on critical business applications.

Total Funding: $7M / $7M Latest Seed on 2022-11-01.

Notable Investors: Bloomberg Beta, Spider Capital, Cendana Capital.

6 Months Growth: Web: 59.62%; Team: 64.1%; Social: 23.5%.