News Briefs

Shima Capital collects $200m from Bill Ackman, Andrew Yang, others

Shima Capital will invest in the earliest rounds of blockchain startups across all verticals with check sizes of $500,000 to $2 million.

-
  • Shima makes investments that range between $500,000 to $2 million
  • The venture capital firm’s areas of focus include consumer, gaming & metaverse, composable financial systems and next-generation blockchain technology
  • Shima was founded in 2021 by Yida Gao

Shima Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage blockchain companies, has raised $200 million for its debut fund.

Shima Capital Fund I’s backers include hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, onetime presidential US candidate Andrew Yang, Animoca, Dragonfly Capital, OKex, Mirana Ventures and Republic, the firm said in a statement.

Shima, founded in 2021 by Yida Gao, invests in the earliest rounds of blockchain startups across all verticals with check sizes of $500,000 to $2 million. Areas of focus include but are not limited to consumer, gaming and the metaverse, composable financial systems and next-generation blockchain technology.

“As crypto-focused VC’s continue to raise massive billion dollar-plus funds, we identified a pocket of opportunity to support Web3 founders with their first institutional checks that are considered too small for other Tier 1 investors,” Gao said in a statement. “We firmly believe this strategy of focusing on the earliest funding rounds and delivering a full suite of value-adds will yield strong returns for LPs and align incentives the most with founders.”

A Shima managing partner, Gao was previously a general partner of Struck Capital, a Los Angeles-based venture capital firm. Prior to that, he held roles as a technology investor at New Enterprise Associates and was an M&A investment banker at Morgan Stanley. Gao graduated from MIT with degrees in mathematics and computer science and briefly attended Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.