Mika Salmi
Managing Partner @ Lakestar
San Francisco, United States
Mika Salmi is a seed investor at Lakestar in San Francisco focused on Online Games and Gaming. Mika is a serial entrepreneur whose work life has been primarily centered on discovering talent and driving new ideas. He has done this in numerous industries and have discovered Grammy, Oscar and Emmy winning artists, created the original online short video company, run the internet’s most popular casual games web sites, built one of the firstsports tracking apps, and pioneered new business models in education.A few examples are the Nine Inch Nails (music), Jason Reitman (film), JibJab (animation), AtomFilms (online video), Shockwave/AddictingGames (games), MadRaces (sports) and the INSEAD San Francisco Hub for Business Innovation (education). he did this as a founder, a CEO, or as a senior executive.Entrepreneurs are Mika's favorite kind of talent, and he enjoys helping them realize their ideas and dreams for their start ups. He has done this working with Accel, Raine, and Sequoia and now leads Lakestar, a top global VC based in Europe.
- Total investments:
- 14
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 43%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Mika Salmi invests in
Stages Mika Salmi invests in
Countries Mika Salmi invests in
Round sizes
Round size
- Seed
- $1.2M–$7.5M
- Series A
- $1.7M–$30M
Investment Focus
Industry
- Online Games 3 (21%)
- Gaming 2 (14%)
- Software 2 (14%)
- E-Commerce 2 (14%)
- Advertising 2 (14%)
Stage
- Seed 5 (36%)
- Series A 3 (21%)
- Funding Round 2 (14%)
- Pre-Seed 1 (7%)
- Series B 1 (7%)
Country
- United States 5 (36%)
- United Kingdom 3 (21%)
- Germany 1 (7%)
- Iceland 1 (7%)
- The Netherlands 1 (7%)
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
Wonder Studios
|
Producing world-class original content | $3M / Pre-Seed / Apr 14, 2025 | |
Graswald AI
|
Graswald engages in the creation of natural and digital 3D worlds for the entertainment industry. | $3.3M / Seed / Mar 20, 2024 | |
Quest Portal
|
Quest Portal makes role-play and tell fantastical stories together by means of crafting and creates characters. | $7.5M / Seed / Oct 19, 2023 | |
Netspeak Games
|
Netspeak Games operates as a zero-crunch studio that develops online multiplayer games. Its first game is a non-violent social MMO, designed to be a fun place to hang out with friends. Players can relax, play, or just get some headspace. | $12M / Series A / Sep 07, 2022 | |
Modulate
|
We are a Boston-based startup using machine learning, AI, and audio technologies to create safer & more inclusive voice chat experiences with ToxMod | $30M / Series A / Aug 16, 2022 | |
|
Graswald AI
|
Graswald engages in the creation of natural and digital 3D worlds for the entertainment industry. | $1.3M / Seed / Jun 09, 2022 | |
AGORA
|
Agora World discover and create honest beauty content. | $6.5M / Seed / Dec 07, 2020 | |
Gameye
|
Instantly deploy Game server matches, anytime, anywhere, with the Gameye Match API. | $2.4M / Seed / Sep 08, 2020 | |
GemShare
|
GemShare is the first service focused on finding and sharing high-quality recommendations with people you know and trust for the services needed to manage busy daily life. GemShare for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch is the easiest and most dependable way to ask for and store the "best" local services - or "gems" - shared amongone's own trusted friends and networks. Founded in 2013 by two busy working moms, GemShare focuses on important daily needs where taste, trust and personal endorsements matter – everything from home improvement services, SAT tutors, and orthopedic surgeons to marriage counselors, music and language instructors, trusted childcare, and much more. Transforming the frequent exchanges that already happen when people ask “Does anyone know a good…?,” GemShare organizes this information and “best of” recommendations in one simple, searchable place. GemShare is based in San Francisco and backed by angel and venture capital investors including Second Avenue Partners, Greylock Partners, Rich Barton, Mika Salmi and Ellen Levy, among others. | $1.2M / Seed / Apr 03, 2014 | |
Inkd.com
|
Inkd (formerly Pressplane) has two main products: Inkd, a true "buy & sell" community (rather like CafePress, Zazzle, Etsy and even stock image companies) wherein designers upload print creative and businesses can download and use the content as a cost effective alternative to hiring a designer, and Zapd, an app that allows users tocreate instant, themed websites straight from their iPhones. | $3.5M / Series B / Jun 28, 2011 | |
| See all 14 investments → | |||
Co-Investors
About Lakestar
Lakestar is a venture capital firm investing in technology companies led by exceptional entrepreneurs. Early investments included Skype, Spotify, Facebook, and Airbnb. Since raising the first fund in 2013, Lakestar manages an aggregated volume of over EUR 1bn across three early-stage funds, and more recently a growth fund. The company has expandedand broadened its portfolio and holds investments in the likes of Opendoor, Oscar, GetYourGuide, Glovo, Sender, Eigen, Five, Revolut, and Hometogo to name a few. Lakestar has a presence in Berlin, Zurich, and London.Lakestar helps companies to identify new markets and expand into them rapidly, with a focus on the US and Europe. The team advises and supports portfolio companies in business development, recruitment, technology, and marketing. The investments range from early-stage companies to those in their growth stage.
Lakestar Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
Mathias Haniel
Partner
|
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Mika Salmi
Managing Partner
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Oliver Heimes
Partner
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Stephen Nundy
Partner & Chief Technology Officer
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Steven Jacobs
Partner & Chief Product Officer
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FAQ
What does Mika Salmi invest in?
Mika Salmi invests primarily in Online Games, Gaming and Software startups, most often at Seed and Series A stage. Most of the 14 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
What is Mika Salmi's check size?
Mika Salmi typically joins rounds of $1.2M–$7.5M at Seed and $1.7M–$30M at Series A. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Mika Salmi participates in.
When did Mika Salmi last invest?
The most recent investment recorded for Mika Salmi closed in Apr 2025. Shizune tracks 14 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.
Is Shizune's investor data accurate?
Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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