Alex Klokus

Last updated
Alex Klokus
Alexander Klokus.jpg
Alex Klokus in 2023
Alma mater New York University
Occupation(s)Entrepreneur, investor, media executive, executive producer
Known forFounding Futurism, Gravity Blanket, SALT fund
Notable work Trust Machine: The Story of Blockchain, I Am Human

Alex Klokus is an American entrepreneur and executive producer. He is the co-founder of the technology news website Futurism , and co-founded Gravity Blanket. In 2017, Klokus was inducted into the Forbes 30 Under 30 in its media category alongside his Futurism co-founder Jordan Lejuwaan. Klokus is currently a founder and managing partner of the SALT fund. Klokus is a moderator at the SALT iConnections conference and World Government Summit.

Contents

Education

Alex Klokus received his undergraduate degree from New York University's Stern School of Business, [1] where he was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma in its 2012-2013 induction year. [2]

Corporate ventures

Futurism

Alex Klokus and Jordan Lejuwaan [3] founded the technology news website Futurism through a Knight Foundation grant [4] in 2017. [5] Klokus and Lejuwaan were inducted into the media category of Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2017. [3] [6]

Futurism was acquired by Singularity University in 2019, [7] before subsequently being sold to Recurrent Ventures in July 2021. [8] [9] [10]

SALT

Alex Klokus is a founder and managing partner of the SALT fund. [11] [12]

Other ventures

Alongside AJ Scaramucci, Klokus co-founded "The Pineapple Palace" co-working space and a startup called Pandos. [13] Klokus co-founded the cryptocurrency investment fund Kyber Capital. [14]

Film production and conference moderation

Alex Klokus has served as executive producer on multiple films, one of which won a Best Feature award and debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival. He has hosted multiple SkyBridge Alternatives Conference panels and also served as a moderator for the 2019 World Government Summit. [15]

Film production

In 2018, Klokus executive produced the 2018 documentary film Trust Machine: The Story of Blockchain alongside Zach LeBeau, Arie Levy-Cohen, and Joseph Lubin. [16] The film, which was written and directed by British American actor Alex Winter, covers the evolution of blockchain technology and its divisive nature while considering whether it is an economic bubble. [16] [17]

The following year he served as executive producer for the documentary I Am Human, which debuted at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival to wide acclaim, [18] alongside American director Geoff Clark. [19] I Am Human follows the medical cases of three patients undergoing complex experimental brain treatments with the goal of regaining lost abilities, including body movement and vision. [20] [21] [22] Praised as "an optimistic, wholesome antidote to fearmongering", the film contemplates the existential question "What makes us human?" [23] The film won Best Director at the Oslo Film Festival [24] and Best Feature at the Other Worlds Film Festival in Austin, Texas. [25]

Conference moderation

In 2021, Klokus moderated a SkyBridge Alternatives Conference discussion with American theoretical physicist Michio Kaku about the future of humanity. [26] The following year, Klokus moderated two discussions: a discussion with Rick Doblin of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies about the promise psychedelic substances might have for mental health treatments, [27] and an interview with Harvard theoretical physicist Avi Loeb discussing the Galileo Project and whether humanity is alone in the universe. [28] In 2023, he hosted Stanford Professor Dr. Garry Nolan [11] [29] and, the following year, retired Lieutenant colonel Karl Nell, a former member of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, about their experiences and beliefs relating to unidentified flying objects. [30] [31]

References

  1. ↑ Thomas, Remya (2017-01-09). "NYU Entrepreneurs Steal the Show on Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2017". NYU Entrepreneurship. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
  2. ↑ "Members Inducted 2012-2013" (PDF). New York University Stern School of Business . 2013. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
  3. 1 2 "Futurism". Forbes. 2017. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
  4. ↑ "Knight Prototype Fund invests in 20 new projects focused on data-driven storytelling and community problem-solving". Knight Foundation. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
  5. ↑ "About Us". Futurism. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
  6. ↑ "NYU Entrepreneurs Steal the Show on Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2017". NYU Entrepreneurship. 2017-01-09. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
  7. ↑ Willens, Max (2019-03-15). "Gravity blanket seller Futurism acquired by Singularity University". Digiday . Retrieved 2024-05-17.
  8. ↑ Kamer, Foster (2021-10-25). "Long Live Futurism.com: This Website Is Free Again, Thanks to You". Futurism. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
  9. ↑ Cartwright, Lachlan; Tani, Maxwell (2021-07-26). "Futurism Bought by VC-Backed Firm Seeking to Become Next Big Media Power Player". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
  10. ↑ Perlberg, Steven. "Recurrent Ventures has just raised $75 million. Here's how the little-known but highly acquisitive company is planning to become the next digital-media empire". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
  11. 1 2 Chung, Frank (May 20, 2023). "Stanford professor says aliens are '100 per cent' on earth, US is 'reverse-engineering downed UFOs'". News.com.au . Retrieved June 1, 2024.
  12. ↑ "Alex Klokus". SALT. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
  13. ↑ Mascarenhas, Natasha (2020-10-15). "Startup founders set up hacker homes to recreate Silicon Valley synergy". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
  14. ↑ "SALT — Alex Klokus". SALT. 2021-08-18. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
  15. ↑ "Dubai World Government Summit 2019 schedule for Monday February 11". The National. March 1, 2020. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
  16. 1 2 Wiseman, Andreas (2018-08-02). "'Trust Machine: The Story Of Blockchain' — First Teaser For Alex Winter Doc Narrated By Rosario Dawson". Deadline. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
  17. ↑ Kenigsberg, Ben (2018-10-25). "Review: In Boosting Blockchain, 'Trust Machine' Chains Itself In" . The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-05-17.
  18. ↑ Niesel, Jeff. "Documentary Film 'I Am Human' to Have Its Cleveland Premiere on Jan. 30 at the Hanna Theatre". Cleveland Scene. Retrieved 2024-05-18.
  19. ↑ "I AM HUMAN | 2019 Tribeca Festival". Tribeca. Retrieved 2024-05-18.
  20. ↑ Stewart, Dillon (January 27, 2020). "I Am Human Documentary Features FES Center, CWRU". Cleveland Magazine. Retrieved 2024-05-18.
  21. ↑ "'I AM HUMAN': Are Brain Implants the Next Evolutionary Leap?". Dell. 2019-06-03. Retrieved 2024-05-18.
  22. ↑ Hayes, Dade (2019-03-11). "Tribeca Film Festival Unveils Shorts Lineup; Feature Slate Includes John DeLorean, Muhammad Ali, Chelsea Manning – Update". Deadline. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
  23. ↑ Pardes, Arielle. "Brain-Machine Interfaces Could Give Us All Superpowers". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 2024-05-18.
  24. ↑ "I Am Human". Oslo Film Festival. Retrieved 2024-05-18.
  25. ↑ "Past Festival - Award Winners". Other Worlds Film Festival. Retrieved 2024-05-18.
  26. ↑ "SALT — The Future in 2050 with Dr. Michio Kaku & Alex Klokus | #SALTNY". SALT. 2021-09-30. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
  27. ↑ "SALT NY: Psychedelic Renaissance: Breakthrough Mental Health Treatments". Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. September 29, 2022. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
  28. ↑ "Professor Abraham (Avi) Loeb". Harvard Center for Astrophysics. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
  29. ↑ "Stanford Professor Says Aliens Are '100%' Living Among Us | 98.1 The Breeze". The Morning Breeze w/ Carolyn McArdle & Cort Johnson. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
  30. ↑ Whiteside, Steph; Coulthart, Ross (2024-05-30). "Aliens are interacting with humans: Ret. Army Col". NewsNation . Retrieved 2024-06-02.
  31. ↑ "Excoronel de EE UU: "La inteligencia extraterrestre existe e interactúa con la humanidad"". El Nacional (in Spanish). May 31, 2024. Archived from the original on May 31, 2024. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.