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. ✨
🔮 Talents of the Week
Specter monitors real-time global talent movements to spot investment opportunities before anyone else.
🪄 Predicted: David Gabeau (US, 2022): Founder at Tapestry
Advantage on Latest Funding Round: 1020 Days
Description: Tapestry provides permissionless access to a unified, portable social graph, enabling anyone to create and deploy social experiences while maintaining ownership of their connections and data.
Prev. Experience: David Gabeau is currently the Founder of Tapestry, a position he has held since January 2022. Tapestry is building a protocol for social applications, with a focus on creating an open, user-driven internet future. Previously, Gabeau was an Analyst at Union Square Ventures from March 2020 to December 2021, where he helped diligence deals across crypto, climate, and education sectors. Before that, he worked as a Quality Engineer at Lyft from August 2018 to February 2020, leading the test cycle of Lyft's rider-collaboration features. Gabeau also held positions as a Software QA Engineer at Snapchat, Inc. from December 2015 to March 2018, and as a Software Engineer in Test at The Huffington Post from May 2015 to December 2015. He attended New York University but dropped out, and has been a volunteer teacher with Code Nation since September 2015.
Total Funding: $5.75M / $5.75M Latest Series A on 01-2025.
Notable Investors: Fabric Ventures, Foresight Ventures, Slow Ventures, Stellation Capital, Union Square Ventures.
👻 Opportunity: Nikita Bier (US, 2024): Founder at Explode
Description: Explode is a messaging app for users to send self-destructing texts and photos within iMessage, with only the sender needing the app installed, while also blocking screenshots for enhanced privacy.
Prev. Experience: Nikita Bier is currently working on explode.me, a new venture he started recently. Previously, he was a Product Growth Partner at Lightspeed from September 2024 to January 2025. Bier co-founded and served as CEO of Gas, a social media app acquired by Discord in January 2023. Before Gas, he worked at Meta (formerly Facebook) in product roles from November 2017 to November 2021. Bier is also known for co-founding tbh, which was acquired by Facebook in 2017. He has been an active advisor and investor in numerous startups since 2017, including companies like xAI, Citizen, and BeReal. Bier holds degrees in Business Administration and Political Economy from the University of California, Berkeley.
🎱 Strategic Signals
Specter analyzes the online and social activity of leading investors and industry insiders to predict upcoming funding rounds and acquisitions.
🪄 Predicted: Tomas Okmanas (EU, 2024): Co-Founder and CEO at Nexos AI
Advantage on Latest Funding Round: 29 Days
Description: An agentic AI orchestration platform powered by a model gateway with advanced and smart decision making.
Prev. Experience: Tomas Okmanas is currently the CEO and co-founder of nexos.ai, an AI orchestration platform for enterprises that he launched in December 2024. He is also the co-founder and co-CEO of Nord Security, a cybersecurity company he co-founded in January 2017 that became a $3B unicorn in 2023. Okmanas co-founded Tesonet, a tech accelerator and house of brands, in November 2008 and has been involved with it for over 16 years. He is also a co-founder of Oxylabs.io, a web intelligence collection platform, which he started in January 2013. Additionally, Okmanas serves as a board member and shareholder of Hostinger International since April 2018.
Total Funding: $8M / $8M Latest Seed on 01-2025.
Notable Investors: Creandum, Dig Ventures, Index Ventures.
👻 Opportunity: André Nuyens (US, 2024) Co-Founder & CTO at Bytespace.ai
Description: Bytespace.ai is developing an AI automation platform allowing users to create WebAgents capable of performing tasks across any website without APIs.
Prev. Experience: André Nuyens is currently the Co-founder and CTO of Bytespace.ai, a position he has held since May 2024. Bytespace.ai is developing AI Employees (WebAgents) that can automate work on any website without requiring API access. Previously, Nuyens was the Co-Founder and CEO of Symbiotica.io Technologies from February 2023 to January 2024, where he built a Chrome extension that mapped user behavior data into a 3D interactive model. Nuyens is a student in the Jerome Fisher M&T Program at the University of Pennsylvania, a dual degree program in Engineering and Business, set to graduate in 2025. He attended Y Combinator's Startup School Event in San Francisco in July 2024.
🍒 Cherry-Picked Companies
Specter tracks the performance of millions of companies and identifies the ones who are likely to increase in valuation.
🪄 Predicted: Sereact (EU, 2021)
3 Months Growth: Web: -45.3%; Team: 27.2%; Social: 9.9%
Description: Sereact created an adaptable AI in order to commercialise a new era of intelligent robots.
Total Funding: $31M / $26M Latest Series A on 01-2025.
Notable Investors: Jan Stumpf, Wolfgang Frank, Michael Achtelik, Point Nine, Martin Giese, Mostafa ElSayed, Alexander Diehl, Oliver Cameron, Air Street Capital, Daniel Gurdan.
👻 Opportunity: Qualifire (EU, 2023)
6 Months Growth: Web: 23.4%; Team: 100%; Social: 9.6%
Description: Qualifire is a real-time AI safeguard ensuring GenAI application works as intended through real-time use case enforcement.
Total Funding: $2M / $500K Latest Pre Seed on 05-2024.
Notable Investors: Israel Innovation Authority, AnD Ventures.
That’s all for this edition of Specter Monitor!
Stay tuned for the next updates and feel free to share with your friends.
