About Yida Gao

Yida Gao (Forbes 30 Under 30) is the Managing General Partner of early stage crypto investment firm Yida formerly co-ran Struck Capital, an early stage industry agnostic venture fund, and also DDC (Divergence Digital Currency), a multi-strategy crypto fund. Prior, Yida served as a technology investor at New Enterprise Associates, a $25Bn+ venture capital fund, and as an M&A investment banker at Morgan Stanley. He graduated from MIT with degrees in mathematics and computer science and dropped out of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business to pursue crypto investing full time in 2017. He taught the 15.492: Crypto Finance course at MIT.  Yida Gao founded Shima Capital in 2021; an early stage VC firm investing in disruptive crypto and blockchain technology companies. Shima Capital is deeply focused on taking a hands-on approach and working closely with its portfolio companies to provide the most sweat equity per dollar invested. As teams in Web3 push the frontier of innovation, Shima helps hire talent, build community, amplify narratives, and foster the acceleration of technical research and development. Shima team is composed of seasoned investors, accomplished operators, and former founders who align on a mission to support all-star teams with building and scaling generational companies. Gao met partner Adam Struck in New York City while working in the M&A group at Morgan Stanley, where he advised on $15 billion in aggregate deal value. They began structuring special purpose vehicles (SPVs) in 2014 in their free time to invest in technology companies. The pair received backing for their first closed-end fund in 2015 after deploying more than 10 SPVs. Gao next joined NEA as a venture investor; after developing his network in Silicon Valley, he formally rejoined Struck Capital. Gao immigrated from China before graduating from MIT, where he was a varsity pole vaulter and Phi Beta Kappa.