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. ✨
🤖 Forbes AI 50 2025: AI Moves Beyond Chat to Real-World Impact
Discover how the Forbes AI 50 2025 companies are transforming AI from chat to real-world solutions. Explore top startups across enterprise, specialised AI, and infrastructure categories. Full download available below.
Specter Team
🔮 Talents of the Week
Specter monitors real-time global talent movements to spot investment opportunities before anyone else.
🪄 Predicted: Austin Gray (US, 2024): Co-Founder & CEO at Blue Water Autonomy
Advantage on Latest Funding Round: over 1 year
Description: Affordable, autonomous ships for democracy’s navies.
Actionable Summary: Blue Water Autonomy, a Boston-based startup founded in 2024 by veterans from the U.S. Navy, Amazon Robotics, and iRobot, has emerged from stealth with $14 million in seed funding to develop fully autonomous naval ships. The company has rapidly developed a full-stack autonomy suite and is already conducting saltwater tests on a 100-ton unmanned vessel near Boston. Its modular, captain-less ships are designed to support various missions, including surveillance, logistics, and combat support, positioning the startup as a potential key partner for the U.S. Navy and the broader maritime industry.
Total Funding: $14M / $14M Latest Seed on 04-2025.
Notable Investors: Eclipse, Riot, and Impatient Ventures.
👻 Opportunity: Cole Winans (US, 2025): Founder & CEO at Stealth Startup (Serial Founder, 2x Exit)
Actionable Summary: Cole is a serial entrepreneur who has operated multiple businesses from inception through acquisition (e.g., Flyreel - acquired by LexisNexis and ScoutIQ - acquired by Threecolts), consistently delivering shareholder returns that outperform the market. Cole is also an early-stage investor in SparkAI (acq.), Mezo (acq.), Anuvi, and other startups.
🎱 Strategic Signals
Specter analyzes the online and social activity of leading investors and industry insiders to predict upcoming funding rounds and acquisitions.
🪄 Predicted: Baiju Bhatt (US, 2024): Co-Founder and CEO at Aetherflux (ex-Robinhood)
Advantage on Latest Funding Round: over 100 days
Description: Aetherflux is an aerospace company on a mission to commercialize space solar power.
Actionable Summary: Aetherflux, a space solar startup founded by Robinhood co-founder Baiju Bhatt, has secured $50 million in Series A funding to support its first low Earth orbit demonstration in 2026. The company aims to deploy satellites that collect solar energy and transmit it to Earth via infrared lasers, with initial applications targeting military and remote operations. The funding round, which brings total investment to $60 million, includes contributions from Index Ventures, Interlagos, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, and others. Aetherflux plans to use the funds to expand its engineering team and develop the necessary technology and infrastructure for its upcoming missions.
Total Funding: $60M / $50M Amount Latest Seed on 04-2025.
Notable Investors: Index Ventures, Interlagos, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA.
👻 Opportunity: Nikita Rudin (EU, 2025): Co-Founder and CEO at Flexion Robotics
Description: Flexion Robotics is developing the next generation of humanoid robot software, which will enable robots to perform useful tasks autonomously.
Actionable Summary: Founders are ex-NVIDIA and all hold PhDs from ETH Zürich. Flexion Robotics is making great first hires and generating significant interest from venture firms.
🍒 Cherry-Picked Companies
Specter tracks the performance of millions of companies and identifies the ones who are likely to increase in valuation.
🪄 Predicted: Stephen Whitworth (US, 2021): Co-Founder and CEO at incident.io
6 Months Growth: Web: 7%; Team: 13%; Social: 24%
Description: The all-in-one AI platform for on-call, incident response, and status pages—built for fast-moving teams.
Total Funding: $96M / $62M Latest Series B on April 10 - 2025.
Notable Investors: Insight Partners, Index Ventures, Point Nine, Lachy Groom.
👻 Opportunity: Tomás Hernando Kofman (US, 2024): Co-Founder at Not Diamond
6 Months Growth: Web: 248%; Team: 60%; Social: 29%
Description: Not Diamond is an AI model routing platform for developers.
Total Funding: $2.3M / $2.3M Latest Seed on July 30 - 2024.
Notable Investors: Inovia Capital, Scott Belsky, Jeff Weiner, Defy.vc, Eoghan McCabe.
That’s all for this edition of Specter Monitor!
Stay tuned for the next updates and feel free to share with your friends.
