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. ✨
Here are this week's predictions and actionable signals.
🔮 Talents of the Week
Specter monitors real-time global talent movements to spot investment opportunities before anyone else.
🪄 Predicted: Philip Johnston (US, 2024): Co-Founder at Lumen Orbit
Advantage on Latest Funding Round: 243 Days
Prev. Experience: Philip Johnston served as Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Opontia, an e-commerce venture, where he raised over $50M in funding and built a team of 100. Prior to that, he worked as an Associate at McKinsey & Company, focusing on satellite projects for national space agencies. Johnston's academic background includes an MPA from Harvard University, an MBA from Wharton, and an MA in Applied Mathematics & Theoretical Physics from Columbia University.
Notable Investors: Y Combinator, Nebular, Sterling Road, Foreword Ventures, Shane Curran, Everywhere Ventures, Tiny VC, Caffeinated Capital, Pareto Holdings, Other People's Capital (OPC), Plug and Play, Sequoia Capital.
👻 Opportunity: Lindon Gao (US, 2024): CEO / Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
Prev. Experience: Lindon Gao served as Co-Founder and CEO of Caper AI, an AI-powered shopping cart company, which he successfully led to acquisition by Instacart. Previously, he worked as an Analyst at Goldman Sachs in the Technology, Media & Telecom group. Gao's academic background includes a Bachelor's degree in Operations Research and Financial Engineering from Columbia University. He has also been recognized as Forbes 30 Under 30 in Retail & E-commerce and was a finalist in the Thiel Fellowship program.
🎱 Strategic Signals
Specter analyzes the online and social activity of leading investors and industry insiders to predict upcoming funding rounds and acquisitions.
🪄 Predicted: CrewAI (US, 2023)
Advantage on Latest Funding Round: 237 Days
Description: CrewAI is a multi-agent automation platform for enterprises to automate complex tasks.
Notable Investors: Andrew Ng, Blitzscaling Ventures, Craft Ventures, Dharmesh Shah, Earl Grey Capital, Insight Partners, Earl Grey Capital, Andreas Klinger, Prototype Capital.
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👻 Opportunity: Idenza AI (US, 2024)
Description: Idenza is a real-time fraud decision engine for payments.
🍒 Cherry-Picked Companies
Specter tracks the performance of millions of companies and identifies the ones who are likely to increase in valuation.
🪄 Predicted: Reality Defender (US, 2021)
6 Months Growth: Web: -51%; Team: 28%; Social: 16%
Description: Reality Defender develops a detection platform to identify and assess risks associated with false media content.
Notable Investors: Parameter Ventures, Argon Ventures, Partnership Fund for New York City, DCVC, Rackhouse Venture Capital, AI Grant, Y Combinator, Illuminate Financial, SXSW, Austin Ogilvie, IBM Ventures, Gutbrain Ventures, Pioneer Fund, Ex/Ante, Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs, Accenture, The Jeffries Family Office, Booz Allen Ventures, Bantam Group, Comcast Ventures.
👻 Opportunity: Warmly (US, 2020)
6 Months Growth: Web: 49%; Team: 36%; Social: 29%
Description: Warmly is an autonomous revenue orchestration platform purpose built for SMB sized revenue teams.
Notable Investors: F-Prime Capital, Techstars, Maven Ventures, Zoom, Ben Orthlieb, Y Combinator, Scribble Ventures, Matchstick Ventures, Mike Vernal, Harry Stebbings, Bossanova Investimentos, NFX, Felicis, Zoom Ventures.
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