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. ✨
🤙 S/O Feature: Focal
Looking for LP introductions? Focal is bringing GPs and LPs together once again for Deploy. All GP applicants can receive introduction requests from their network of 115 LPs and the top 5% are invited to meet over 40 LPs in-person on 6th February. To top it off, there's no charge.
GPs: Applications are open now until 20th January, register here.
LPs: Email joel@gofocal.vc for an invite and access to our GP network.
🔮 Talents of the Week
Specter monitors real-time global talent movements to spot investment opportunities before anyone else.
🪄 Predicted: Zyad Elgohary (US, 2024): CEO at CopyCat
Advantage on Latest Funding Round: 29 Days
Description: CopyCat is a chrome extension that lets you show your computer how to do something once, and then it'll be able to reproduce it.
Prev. Experience: Zyad Elgohary co-founded CopyCat in November 2024, where he currently serves as CEO. Previously, he worked as a Software Engineer at Okta for the Workflows team. Elgohary completed internships at Verkada, where he contributed to the alarms team and developed an MVP product. He also founded Course Finder, a website for university students to check course GPAs, which he scaled to over 10,000 users. Elgohary holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science & Software Engineering from the University of Washington, where he also minored in Entrepreneurship.
Total Funding: $500k / $500k Latest Pre-Seed on 01-2025.
Notable Investors: Y Combinator.
👻 Opportunity: Stephen Toebes (US, 2024): CEO at Stealth Startup
Prev. Experience: Stephen Toebes is currently the CEO of a stealth robotics company, a position he started in November 2024. Previously, he was Chief Executive Officer at Tensor Robotics from February 2024 to November 2024. Toebes co-founded and served as Chief Product Officer at NextShift Robotics (acquired by JASCI in April 2021) from January 2016 to April 2021. He also held senior leadership roles at Wonder as Chief Engineering Officer, and at Rethink Robotics as Senior Vice President of Product Development and Operations. Toebes has extensive experience in robotics, automation, and product development, with earlier roles at companies like Humatics Corporation, Harvest Automation, and Symbotic.
🎱 Strategic Signals
Specter analyzes the online and social activity of leading investors and industry insiders to predict upcoming funding rounds and acquisitions.
🪄 Predicted: OpenFunnel (US, 2024)
Advantage on Latest Funding Round: 50 Days
Description: OpenFunnel provides AI agents that help Go-To-Market teams find potential customers by detecting real-time intent signals from the internet.
Total Funding: $1.3M / $1.3M Latest Pre-Seed on 01-2025.
Notable Investors: Decacorn Capital, NYX Ventures, Transpose Platform, Y Combinator.
👻 Opportunity: Simba Jonga (US, 2024)
Simba J.
Description: Simba Jonga is currently working on a stealth startup since February 2024, focused on supporting America's industrial base. Previously, he was an Entrepreneur in Residence at MVP Ventures and a Researcher at Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. Jonga was a Knight-Hennessy Scholar and graduate student at Stanford University, where he focused on AI and taught MBA students about data and AI applications. He also held roles as a Venture Partner at Contrary, worked at Zoox on AI-powered mobility, and was a Fellow at Threshold Ventures. Earlier in his career, Jonga co-founded various startups, was a researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and worked as a PM at Microsoft.
🍒 Cherry-Picked Companies
Specter tracks the performance of millions of companies and identifies the ones who are likely to increase in valuation.
🪄 Predicted: Backflip AI (US, 2022)
3 Months Growth: Web: 45.1%; Team: 22%; Social: 58.2%
Description: Backflip provides an AI-powered 3D design tool to ideate and produce realistic models that can be printed out or used as video game assets, 3D renders, and other digital media.
Total Funding: $30M / $30M Latest Series A on 12-2024.
Notable Investors: Andreessen Horowitz, Kevin Scott, Rich Miner, New Enterprise Associates, Ashish Vaswani.
👻 Opportunity: Firebender (US, 2023)
6 Months Growth: Web: -76.1%; Team: 100%; Social: 16.3%
Description: Firebender is a B2B lead generation tool where users can find leads using natural language qualifications.
Total Funding: $500K / $500K Latest Seed on 04-2024.
Notable Investors: Eight Capital, Y Combinator.
That’s all for this edition of Specter Monitor!
Stay tuned for the next updates and feel free to share with your friends.
