Company Launch Tracker #77
Ex-Neuralink & Tesla engineer builds automated QA for firmware teams, Stanford MBA builds AI compliance automation for Medicaid behavioral health, & Harvard alum builds IDE for robotics teams
Company Launch Tracker is a real-time feed for investors, founders, and tech enthusiasts who want to spot startups the moment they launch. We leverage the technology built at Gravity to track billions of data points and surface company debuts the instant they happen. These signals include founder “I’m excited to announce…” posts, company filings, job changes, product hunt launches, and early press mentions—all stitched together into a single stream of what’s new.
In this issue of the Company Launch Tracker, here is what we will uncover:
Ex-Neuralink and Tesla hardware engineer building automated QA for firmware teams
Former Head of AI at Swiss4.0 is building an AI-native core consulting system co-designed with BCG, McKinsey, and Bain partners
Stanford MBA is building AI-native compliance automation for Medicaid behavioral health providers
Harvard Design Engineering grad and ex-eBay PM is building an IDE that unifies infrastructure and foundation models for robotics teams
And more…
Here’s the rundown of new company activity… 🚀🚀🚀
🚀Recent Company Launches
Early visibility into the launches most people won’t hear about until months later.
Ahnaf Shahriar - Co-Founder at Simantic
FounderDNA: Technical Founder
Prior Experience: Embedded Software Engineer at Neuralink, AI Hardware Engineer at Tesla, IC Design & Verification Engineer at NXP Semiconductors, Wireless Firmware Developer at onsemi, University of Waterloo
Simantic automates bare-metal firmware testing using simulated hardware.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Developer Tools, Embedded Systems, AI | Team Size: 3
Key Investors: Leapyear VC, Velocity Fund
Zach Dyce - Founder at Penguin Health
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Masters Degree, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: MBA at Stanford GSB, GM (Quick-Commerce) at Jumia Group, Associate at Boston Consulting Group, Investment Banking Analyst at Jefferies
Penguin Health is an AI-native compliance automation and QA platform for Medicaid behavioral health providers, designed to catch documentation and billing risks early, reduce manual review, and support quality improvement at safety-net organizations.
HQ: Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Industry: HealthTech, Compliance, Mental Health Care | Team Size: 2
Vahan Avetisyan - Co-Founder & CTO at Cigno AI
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Doctorate Degree, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Head of Data & AI at Swiss4.0, RnD Lead & Chief Architect at Polixis, Senior Consultant at EY
Cigno AI is an AI-native core consulting system co-designed with senior partners from BCG, McKinsey, and Bain, combining specialized AI agents, consulting frameworks, and curated data sources to help management consultants research deeper, deliver faster, and produce client-ready, auditable outputs across strategy, M&A, and operations engagements.
HQ: Geneva, Switzerland
Industry: AI, Management Consulting, Enterprise SaaS | Team Size: 7
Raul Romero - Co-Founder at Kite
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Masters Degree, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Masters in Design Engineering at Harvard University, Co-Founder & CEO at Yakera, Senior Product Manager at eBay, v0 Ambassador at Vercel
Kite is an IDE for robotics that unifies infrastructure, foundation models, simulation, data, and monitoring into a single platform to help researchers and startups build and train autonomous robots faster.
HQ: San Francisco, California, United States
Industry: Robotics, Developer Tools, AI | Team Size: 2
Jimmy Malhan - Founder & CEO at Pretense
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Software Engineering Manager at Allergan Aesthetics (AbbVie), Software Engineering Manager at HealthJoy, CTO at AdvancePay
Pretense is an open-source AI security firewall for code that runs a local proxy to intercept and redact proprietary source code before it reaches third-party AI tools like Cursor, Copilot, and Claude Code.
HQ: Los Angeles, California, United States
Industry: Cybersecurity, Developer Tools, AI | Team Size: 2
Kevin Klous - Founder & CEO at Doortana
FounderDNA: Technical Founder, Masters Degree, Top 10 University
Prior Experience: Principal Engineer at Palo Alto Networks, Senior Technical Leader at Cisco, MS (Systems Engineering) at Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering
Doortana is an end-to-end operating system for residential real estate that replaces fragmented tool stacks with a single integrated platform covering CRM, listings, offers, contracts, e-signing, transaction management, and client portal.
HQ: Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
Industry: PropTech, AI, Real Estate Software | Team Size: 2
Andrew Vassili - Co-Founder at Remi Labs
FounderDNA: Serial Founder, Technical Founder, Masters Degree
Prior Experience: Head of AI at Stake, Co-Founder at Simplfi, Lead Engineer at PwC, Lead Engineer at Telstra Purple
Remi Labs is building a WhatsApp-native reordering assistant that tracks purchase history, sends low-stock reminders, and enables instant reorders — with no app required.
HQ: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Industry: Consumer Tech, AI, E-Commerce
Stay strapped in,
Drake
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