# Alex Klokus

Alex Klokus is an American entrepreneur, co-founder of the technology news website Futurism, a co-founder of Gravity Blanket, and an executive producer. 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.

## Education

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

## Corporate ventures
### Futurism

Alex Klokus and Jordan Lejuwaan founded the technology news website Futurism through a Knight Foundation grant in 2017, with Forbes subsequently reporting later that year that the site received more than three million visitors a month with its media content generating over 140 million monthly views. Futurism entered into partnerships with the Prime Minister's office in Dubai to offer an Arabic language version of Futurism, and with the White House for "South by South Lawn" and other events. The company established a "native advertising arm" with partnerships with Nokia and other companies. Prior to the company's formal launch, it was a technology meet-up discussion group in New York City.
Klokus and Futurism co-founder Jordan Lejuwaan were inducted into the media category of Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2017.
Futurism was acquired by Singularity University in 2019 before subsequently selling it to Recurrent Ventures in July 2021.

#### Gravity Blanket

The Gravity Blanket is a crowdfunded weighted blanket product originally developed by Futurism which received generally favorable reviews from customers and the media, being considered one of the best inventions of 2018 by Time magazine. When Futurism was sold to Singularity University, Futurism's product the Gravity Blanket was spun off into its own company, Gravity Brand Holdings LLC, which was then led by Klokus and Mike Grillo before its 2021 acquisition by Win Brands Group.

#### Futurism Studios

Klokus launched Futurism's film and TV arm. In 2018, Futurism Studios signed a deal with WME and subsequently produced documentary films such as Trust Machine: The Story of Blockchain and the Facebook Watch narrative drama series Glimpse. In 2020 it helped to produce the Australian science fiction film 2067.

### SALT

Alex Klokus is a founder and managing partner of the SALT fund.

### Other ventures

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

## 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.

### 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. 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.
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, alongside American director Geoff Clark. 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. Praised as "an optimistic, wholesome antidote to fearmongering", the film contemplates the existential question "What makes us human?" The film won Best Director at the Oslo Film Festival and Best Feature at the Other Worlds Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

### Conference moderation

In 2021, Klokus moderated a SkyBridge Alternatives Conference discussion with American theoretical physicist Michio Kaku about the future of humanity. 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, and an interview with Harvard theoretical physicist Avi Loeb discussing the Galileo Project and whether humanity is alone in the universe. In 2023, he hosted Stanford Professor Dr. Garry Nolan 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.