Cluj startup AlphaBlock gets funding from Toronto-based Real Ventures Fund

Aurel Dragan 04/02/2019 | 10:00

AlphaBlock, a startup founded by an Indian and a Romanian, has recently received funding from a Canadian investment fund to refine its product, a solution based on artificial intelligence and blockchain technology to manage the risks faced by pension funds, according to Startupcafe.ro.

The value of the investment made by the Real Ventures Fund in Toronto has not been revealed but, as a result of this funding, the startup based in Cluj is valued at 15 million dollars, according to EU Startups.

The founder and CEO of AlphaBlock is Mukul Pal, an entrepreneur who came from Romania all the way from India. His wife, Florina, from Cluj, is the technical lead in the fintech startup.

Mukul Pal is an entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in investment and consulting. He studied science and business in India, and then completed a Masters in Economics and Statistics at the Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj in 2014-2016. He also studied FinTech (financial technology) in the US at MIT.

In Cluj, Mukul Pal has worked quite strongly in business consulting, through his company, Orpheus Capitals. In February 2018, he founded AlphaBlock, which has its R&D center in Cluj, but operates in the US, Europe and India, with headquarters near Los Angeles.

“I could not even pronounce Cluj at first. Now I can. It happened to be Cluj. Was it love at first sight? Maybe. It matters that that love has grown strong. I love the city and it loves me too. It is strange how this Pygmalion effect has been fruitful. I came without any expectations, dreaming of starting a business, growing an idea. Cluj helped me think, nurtured me, tested me, reinvented me, and made me evolve. Like a shrub in a nursery,” Mukul said in an interview given to the Monitorul de Cluj in 2013.