Yida Gao

Yida Gao

Yida Gao is the Managing General Partner of Shima Capital, an early-stage crypto investment firm he founded in 2021. He formerly co-ran Struck Capital, an early-stage industry-agnostic venture fund, and DDC (Divergence Digital Currency), a multi-strategy crypto fund.2

Prior to his venture capital roles, Gao served as a technology investor at New Enterprise Associates, a $25B+ venture capital fund, and as an M&A investment banker at Morgan Stanley.2 He graduated from MIT with degrees in mathematics and computer science and briefly attended Stanford's Graduate School of Business before dropping out to pursue crypto investing full-time in 2017.23

Gao teaches the 15.492: Crypto Finance course at MIT, taking over the role from SEC Chairman Gary Gensler in 2022.24 He is known for inviting prominent crypto founders and executives as guest speakers, including Vitalik Buterin, Yat Siu, Anthony Pompliano, and Alex Mashinsky.4

As the founder of Shima Capital, Gao focuses on investing in disruptive blockchain companies and providing hands-on support to help them succeed.23 The firm's $200M web3 venture fund has backed nearly 200 portfolio companies to date.4

Gao's other accolades include being named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list23 and serving as a member of the Open Campus (EDU) committee.1