Albert Santalo

CEO & Founder of 8Base

September 2018

Albert Santalo is a South Florida entrepreneur who started two successful tech companies, Avisena and CareCloud, helping medical practices handle billing more efficiently. Now, he’s launching a venture from Coral Gables to help businesses obtain custom software more quickly and cheaply. Born in Baltimore to Cuban immigrants, Santalo holds a bachelor’s in computer engineering from University of Miami and an MBA from FIU. He worked as a management consultant before starting his own businesses. 

LATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT 

Created tech startup 8base in 2017 and raised nearly $1 million from angel investors. 8base now employs almost 20 people in Coral Gables and in St. Petersburg, Russia. It plans to hire dozens more employees in South Florida and “near-shore” in Latin America, as it debuts different products. 

WHAT HE SAYS 

“8base is software to build software,” says Santalo. Its platform lets people with limited tech skills build and host enterprise software, working with developers, contributors and users “in a decentralized ecosystem that makes software development fast and easy.” The platform uses blockchain technology for extra security. “Citizen developers and organizations pay a monthly or yearly subscription for access to the platform.” 

“Our goal is to create a world-class company that people clamor to work at,” says Santalo, 51, whose track record includes raising more than $100 million for his last venture, CareCloud. And why Coral Gables as home base for the new international startup? “We really thrive in entrepreneurial settings. We had looked at several spaces, but loved the new WeWork location in Coral Gables,” he says. “Coral Gables is also great for meetings and near the airport.”