# Martín Alcalá Rubí

> Martín Alcalá Rubí is a Uruguayan engineer, entrepreneur, angel investor, and musician based in Montevideo. He co-founded Tryolabs, MonkeyLearn, and Zapia, serving as the first CEO of Tryolabs and Zapia. His work spans applied machine learning, consumer AI, open source software, and the Damoosic music project.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & Board Member at Tryolabs; Co-Founder & former CEO at Zapia; builder at draix.pro
- **Organizations:** Tryolabs, MonkeyLearn, Zapia, BrainLogic AI, UltraDrop, AngelClub UY, CUTI, Damoosic, SuperBombo
- **Nationality:** Uruguayan
- **Education:** Engineering in Telecommunications and Electronics, Universidad de la República, Entrepreneurship accelerator program, 500 Startups, San Francisco, Batch 14, Quantum computing professional education; not an academic degree, MIT xPRO, Mixing technician training, as described in his music biography, Berklee College of Music
- **Known for:** Co-founded Tryolabs, which grew from makeshift offices into an applied AI consultancy and was acquired by Qubika in August 2026., Co-founded MonkeyLearn, acquired by Medallia in 2022., Co-founded Zapia; the company reported more than six million Latin American users and US$19.3 million in total investment in March 2026.

## Career timeline

- **2004-2005** — Worked on UMANIS, an autonomous robotic manipulator, with Nicolás de Mula and Andrés Pietrafesa at Universidad de la República.
- **2004** — GSM network optimization work for Ericsson.
- **2004-2007** — Worked at Security Advisor; his CV lists the role as CTO.
- **2005** — Completed telecommunications and electronics engineering studies.
- **2007-2010** — Worked on value-added services and real-time charging systems at Movistar.
- **2009** — Bought the Tryolabs domain on August 24; co-founded the venture with Raúl Garreta and Ernesto Rodríguez Di Paolo.
- **2011** — Co-organized the first Python Day Uruguay.
- **2013** — Co-founded MonkeyLearn, a text-analysis platform developed out of Tryolabs.
- **2015** — Participated in 500 Startups San Francisco Batch 14 with MonkeyLearn.
- **2016** — Joined CUTI’s board, as recorded in his historical CV.
- **2017** — Tryolabs launched its student scholarship and the Luminoth open source computer vision toolkit.
- **2019** — Received an AIU special recognition; Damoosic released The Camino EP and performed in Uruguay and Europe.
- **2022** — MonkeyLearn was acquired by Medallia.
- **2023** — Co-founded BrainLogic AI, the company behind Zapia, and served as its first CEO.
- **2026** — Published an open project log at draix.pro; Tryolabs joined Qubika in August.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Tryolabs, which grew from makeshift offices into an applied AI consultancy and was acquired by Qubika in August 2026.
- Co-founded MonkeyLearn, acquired by Medallia in 2022.
- Co-founded Zapia; the company reported more than six million Latin American users and US$19.3 million in total investment in March 2026.
- Received a special recognition from the Asociación de Ingenieros del Uruguay in November 2019 for contributions to Uruguayan software engineering abroad, particularly AI.
- Participated in 500 Startups San Francisco Batch 14 in 2015.
- Released The Camino EP as Damoosic in 2019.

## Latest updates

- **2026-03** — Zapia announced a US$7 million seed extension, bringing reported cumulative funding to US$19.3 million, to develop Zapia Max.
- **2026-06** — His personal project log dates the launch of draix.pro to June 2026.
- **2026-08** — Tryolabs announced its acquisition by Qubika on August 12.
- **2026-09** — His personal site lists an Innovadores interview with Santiago Álvarez, a science-fiction video project, and updates to GrowthMachina, StockMachina, and the family game Alcatz.

## Links

- Website: https://draix.pro/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/malcala/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/draix
- GitHub: https://github.com/draix
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@draixtube
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/martinalcalarubi/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/martin-alcala-rubi
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-11