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

🪄 Predicted:

Alex Schmelkin (US, 2023): Founder and CEO at Sixfold.

• Featured by Specter on: 2023 - Week 22.

• Advantage on Latest Funding Round: 376 Days.

• Description: Sixfold is an insurtech startup that leverages generative AI to improve insurance underwriting processes.

• Prev. Experience: EIR Operating Advisor @ Bessemer Venture Partners, Founding Member, CMO & CRO @ Unqork, Strategic Advisor @ Cake & Arrow, Board Member, Audit, Comp & Tech Committees @ Essendant, CEO & Founder @ Cake & Arrow, CEO & Founder @ Alexander Interactive.

• Total Funding: $21.5M / $15M Latest Series A on 06-2024.

• Notable Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, Crystal Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures, Scale Venture Partners.

👻 Opportunity:

Christian Owens (EU, 2024): Founder at Stealth Startup.

• Featured by Specter on: 2024 - Week 20.

• Prev. Experience: Founder @ Paddle, Founder & Executive Chairman @ Paddle, Thiel Fellow @ The Thiel Foundation.

• Total Funding: N/A.

• Notable Investors: N/A.

*Please note: To preserve the exclusivity of our premium solutions, Talent Signals in this public newsletter are delayed by at least 1 month. Specter clients enjoy a six-month lead over any other database, gaining early access to thousands of new talent signals each week. Reach out today to secure your competitive advantage! ⚡

🎱 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:

Pika (US, 2023) - Featured by Specter on: 2023 - Week 36.

• Advantage on Latest Funding Round: 275 Days.

• Description: Pika is a startup that develops an AI-powered platform for editing and generating films from captions and still images.

• Total Funding: $135M / $80M Latest Series B on 06-2024

• Notable Investors: Aaron Levie, Adam D’Angelo, Andrej Karpathy, Elad Gil, Jared Leto, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Spark Capital.

👻 Opportunity:

Vilash Poovala (US, 2024): Founder at Stealth Startup.

• Featured by Specter on: 2024 - Week 22.

• Prev. Experience: Strategic Advisor @ Mercanto, Chief Technology Officer @ Mercanto, CEO/CPTO & Co-founder @ Oyster Financial, CPTO @ PayU, Co-founder & CTO @ Clip, Sr. Director Product Management (V.me and UltimatePay Merchant Acceptance) @ Visa.

• Signal: Increased VC Interest in 06/2024.

🍒 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:

Cube (US, 2016) - Specter Rank: 8718📈

• Description: Cube is the semantic layer for building data apps, bridging data sources and tools. It enables fast, consistent, and secure data access, organization, caching, and delivery through instant APIs.

• Total Funding: $46.7M / $25M Latest Venture Round on 06-2024.

• Notable Investors: Slack Fund, 645 Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, Uncorrelated Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Betaworks, overtime.vc, Eniac Ventures, Decibel Partners, AAL VC.

• 6 Months Growth: Web: -14.67%; Team: 22.5%; Social: 16.9%.

👻 Opportunity:

Whop (US, 2021) - Specter Rank: 179📈

• Description: Whop services the internet economy by providing sellers with sleek storefronts for accepting payments, delivering digital products, and attracting customers. Handling over $150M in yearly payments with thousands of active merchants, Whop is transforming digital marketplaces. 

• Total Funding: $18M / $17M Latest Series A on 07-2023.

• Notable Investors: Peter Thiel, Kevin O'Leary, The Chainsmokers, James Harden, Insight Partners, Justin Kan.

• 6 Months Growth: Web: 59.83%; Team: 26.09%; Social: 29.9%.