Cumulus is on a mission to revolutionize how you memorialize your loved ones. We want to make commemoration a meaningful and seamless part of your daily routine so that no moments are lost and no opportunities are missed.
The idea for Cumulus was born after Alex Josephson almost lost his father to COVID-19 complications. When he prepared himself no fewer than three times to say goodbye to his father who was hospitalized for nine months, Alex became painfully aware of how little his family had collected in the way of photos, videos, and ephemera over the previous 20 years.
As an architect with a longstanding interest in the design of spiritual sites and the spatial dimensions of memory, Alex seized on a new idea: a digital architecture for honouring the most cherished people in our lives that mimics the process of memory itself.
In our loss-avoidant culture, we don’t always make room for rituals that help us prepare for death and grief. Alex founded Cumulus with the hope of transforming how people honour their loved ones, save their memories and media, and create lasting legacies in anticipation of the inevitable.
Memorials are sacred spaces. A digital memorial should be no different. Our pledge to you centers on trust: We offer subscribers a data trust option that allows you to own your data in perpetuity.
Cumulus lets you gather memories in the now and preserve moments forever. These memories — and the media that convey them — belong to you. That is why we designed a platform that puts you in control.
Perpetuity is a cornerstone of our vision for Cumulus. We want to help ensure that future generations can experience your voice, stories, and ephemera for years to come and that your legacy will be managed by hand-picked confidants, not a faceless company. Our data trust provides unique legal and technical protections so that your data is permanently preserved and managed by a person of your choosing after you have passed.
Cumulus is securely encrypted with fine-grained access settings that allow you to decide who can view your posts and contribute to your memory clouds. It is a secure digital space to celebrate and reminisce, where memories endure and legacies last, on your terms.
We are a team of thinkers, designers, and builders who have all experienced loss. Our hope is to bring joy and ease to the process of memorialization and offer comfort during times of mourning.
Alex Josephson
Prior to founding Cumulus, Alex co-founded PARTISANS, an acclaimed architecture studio based in Toronto. The practice was named Best Emerging Studio by The Royal Architecture Institute of Canada in 2020. Alex also lectures at the University of Toronto Daniels Faculty of Architecture and is the only Canadian to date to have received the New York Prize Fellowship at the Van Alen Institute.
Cory Salveson
Cory is a seasoned technologist and researcher specialized in the social science and application of emerging technology. At the Oxford Internet Institute, his research focused on the impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) on human learning. He has prioritized multidisciplinary thinking throughout his career across industry, government, and academia. In 2017, he was awarded the Oxford Ideas Prize.
Sasha Grujicic
Sasha is an award-winning technology executive with global leadership experience in both public and private markets. In a career that spans more than 20 years, Sasha has scaled technology adoption with Fortune 500 companies, overseen teams of over 1,500 people and revenues of almost $200 million, and supported many startups, from incubation through acquisition. Sasha is also a graduate of Singularity University, the global joint-venture program founded by Google, NASA, and leading intellectuals like Ray Kurzweil dedicated to investigating accelerating technologies and their impacts on humanity.