About
Peruvian entrepreneur and technologist. Twenty years building software, three startups, one pandemic.
I'm CTO of Canaria, where we build AI for crypto compliance, and I founded SeedPhrase Fund. Before that I founded AmigoCloud and ModeWalk, wrote GIS software used by governments around the world, and worked on Microsoft Flight Simulator. I write and speak about AI, crypto and cybersecurity for Latin American media.
- Based in
- Miami, Florida
- Languages
- English · Español
What I'm doing now
Building
CTO of Canaria: AI-powered compliance and AML for crypto teams like Ripple, Uniswap, FalconX, Wormhole Foundation, Veda and Standard Custody.
Investing
Founder of SeedPhrase Fund, an operator-led vehicle investing in crypto-native companies, networks and digital assets.
Explaining
Co-host of iA al Día, a weekly AI podcast with Omar Florez, and a regular TV and radio guest on AI, crypto and cybersecurity.
Teaching
Guía Crypto, a Spanish-language guide to crypto trading, and live coding sessions with AI.
The path so far
SeedPhrase Fund — founder
Operator-led investment vehicle for crypto-native companies, networks and digital assets.
Canaria — CTO
AI-powered crypto compliance: wallet screening, due diligence, KYC and anti-money-laundering programs.
OpenCovid-Perú
Volunteer open-data initiative; appointed to the government working group on the national death toll.
AmigoCloud
Founded a geospatial platform for field data. Code for America accelerator, Stanford StartX.
ModeWalk — acquired by Moda Operandi
Couture e-commerce; co-founder and CTO. Stanford StartX. Featured in Vogue, The New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Microsoft and NVIDIA
GIS technology at Microsoft and NVIDIA; Microsoft Flight Simulator at MS Game Studios.
Esri
Software written in my twenties, still used by most countries for census data collection, nautical charts and national GIS, and by the Department of Defense, NASA, NGA and the US Forest Service.
Public-interest work
Helping Peru count its pandemic dead
My analysis El Martillazo y el Huayno went viral overnight. With volunteers I co-founded OpenCovid-Perú, which became the press’s reference for pandemic data. Patrick Wieghardt and I then helped the government correct the official death toll.
- May 2020“El Martillazo y el Huayno” published; first public R values for Lima, with open source code
- Apr 2021OpenCovid-Perú findings presented to Congress
- Apr 2021Appointed to the government working group on the death toll
- Jun 2021Peru revises its count; Presidential thank-you
- Jun 2021Methodology presented to the World Health Organization
Open source
Long-time contributor to the geospatial open source ecosystem and founder of the San Francisco GeoMeetup. Talks at PyCon, FOSS4G and SCALE.
Interests
The long version
I'm a Peruvian serial entrepreneur and technologist with over 20 years of experience in the tech industry. I've founded multiple venture-backed startups: AmigoCloud, a geospatial platform (Code for America, Stanford StartX); ModeWalk, a luxury e-commerce company acquired by Moda Operandi (Stanford StartX); and a stealth startup in the crypto space. My career has spanned GIS technology (Esri, Microsoft, NVIDIA, AmigoCloud), video games (Microsoft Flight Simulator at MS Game Studios), and e-commerce. I know how to build SaaS platforms from the ground up and manage engineering teams. I've been an open source believer and contributor for as long as I've been writing software, especially in the geospatial ecosystem. For the past four years, I've been working in crypto, building analytics solutions for compliance programs including KYC and anti-money laundering.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I wrote El Martillazo y el Huayno, an article that went viral overnight as the first document in Peru explaining the pandemic's impact. It was also the first publication of R values at regional and city levels in Lima, with open source code. I co-founded OpenCovid-Peru, a volunteer initiative that became the de facto standard for Peruvian press coverage of the pandemic. We calculated numbers at finer granularity than the government, tracked ICU bed availability at hospitals, and eventually pressured the government to adopt more open data policies. Patrick Wieghardt and I were invited to help update Peru's official death toll using a novel methodology optimized for countries with limited PCR testing, which was presented to the World Health Organization. Our work earned us a Presidential Thank You and acknowledgement from the Peruvian Congress.
Earlier in my career, software I wrote at Esri in my 20s has been used by most countries for census data collection, nautical charts, and National Geographic information systems, as well as by major US agencies including the Department of Defense, NASA, NGA, and the US Forest Service.