Mokhtar Bacha

Yo, you gotta hear about Mokhtar Bacha. This guy’s a straight-up prodigy. So, he jumped into the tech scene super early, like, at 17, he was the youngest at ConsenSys, working directly for Joseph Lubin, one of the OGs of Ethereum. Imagine that, at 17, in the big leagues, hacking away at cryptography, consensus algorithms, distributed systems. That’s no small feat. It shows he’s just wired differently, crazy smart, super driven, and not afraid to get his hands dirty in the real tech trenches.

Fast forward a bit, and Mokhtar’s already got this deep crypto background, but he’s also got a real itch to build something of his own. So, in 2020, at just 19, he decides to jump into Y Combinator, solo, mind you, initially with a different idea, but then he pivots to what he’s really passionate about: security. That’s when Formal was born. The guy’s got guts, pivoting early, trusting his instincts, and just going all in.

Formal is all about data security, real-time, rock-solid access control for sensitive data and APIs. Think about how many companies are sitting on a mountain of data, worried about breaches and leaks. This is the kind of problem that keeps CEOs up at night, and Mokhtar’s solution is super clever, a security reverse-proxy that puts control right where it needs to be.

And get this, under his leadership, Formal’s already crushing it. They’ve snagged big-name customers like Notion, Ramp, and Gusto. Plus, they just closed a $5.8 million seed round led by Thrive Capital, huge for a startup that’s barely a couple of years old. And the VC world is paying attention because they see the same thing I do: Mokhtar’s got that rare mix of technical genius and startup hustle.

What’s crazy about him is how early he started, how deep his expertise runs, and how he’s already building practical stuff that enterprise giants actually need. It’s like he’s been prepping for this his whole life, just waiting for the right moment. Honestly, he’s the real deal, someone who’s not just talking about innovation but actually building it.

So yeah, Mokhtar Bacha isn’t your average founder. He’s a tech whiz with a vision, and he’s just getting started. No cap, this guy’s gonna be a big name in security and enterprise tech. Keep an eye on him, he’s got that rare mix of talent, grit, and vision that only comes around once in a while.