# Tekin Salimi

> Tekin Salimi is a seed investor at Creative Destruction Lab backing Blockchain and Cryptocurrency. See 21 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Creative Destruction Lab](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/creative-destruction-lab)
- Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States
- Total investments: 21
- Last investment: Apr 2026
- Lead investor: 10%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmsalimi/
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/tekinsalimi
- Website: https://www.dao5.com

Tekin Salimi is an entrepreneur and founder of dao5, a cryptocurrency investment manager which plans to convert into a decentralized autonomous organization. Prior to founding dao5, Tekin was a general partner at Polychain Capital where he focused on research and early-stage venture investments in emergent cryptocurrency protocols and companies.Tekin also previously co-founded and advised the Blockchain Association, the preeminent lobbyist group advocating the policy interests of the blockchain industry within the U.S. Prior to entering the crypto world, Tekin was a lawyer at Torys LLP with a focus in public and private M&A, securities and debt financing. He holds a JD from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Blockchain | 11 | 52% |
| Cryptocurrency | 7 | 33% |
| Information Technology | 6 | 29% |
| Artificial Intelligence | 5 | 24% |
| Internet | 4 | 19% |

25 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 13 | 62% |
| Pre-Seed | 3 | 14% |
| Venture - Series Unknown | 2 | 10% |
| Series A | 1 | 5% |
| Funding Round | 1 | 5% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | 8 | 38% |
| Singapore | 3 | 14% |
| India | 2 | 10% |
| Australia | 2 | 10% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Cluster Protocol | Cluster Protocol is the co-ordination layer for AI agents, a carnot engine fueling the AI economy making sure the AI developers are monetized for their AI models and users get an unified seamless experience to build that next AI app/ agent within a virtual disposable environment facilitating the creation of modular, self-evolving AI agents. | $5M | Venture - Series Unknown | Apr 23, 2026 |  |
| Raise | Raise is a digital prepaid and retail payment platform where consumers save money on every purchase at over 4,000 brands and earn rewards with Raise Pay. As a digital partner to more than 600+ national brands, Raise offers an innovative way for retailers to increase brand loyalty, engagement, and retention by adding value for their core consumers.Raise has saved its millions of members more than $200 million and received $147 million in funding from leading investors including Accel, PayPal, Bessemer Venture Partners, and New Enterprise Associates. Raise is available on both iOS and Android or at raise.com | $63M |  | Feb 26, 2025 |  |
| Spicenet | Spicenet is a hyper-fast Layer 2 (L2) trading solution, engineered as a custom application rollup to deliver ultra-fast, reliable, and efficient transaction processing for seamless trading experiences. | $3.4M | Seed | Dec 11, 2024 |  |
| Nectar AI | Nectar AI is a virtual AI companion platform that offers users the ability to create and interact with the digital customized personalities and companions. | $3.9M | Seed | Aug 26, 2024 |  |
| Hyperbolic | Hyperbolic is the open-access AI cloud made for AI developers, providing fast, affordable access to compute, inference, and AI services. | $7M | Seed | Jul 30, 2024 |  |
| Mira | Mira is a decentralized infrastructure platform designed to increase access to advanced AI. | $9M | Seed | Jul 16, 2024 |  |
| Lombard | Lombard is committed to leveraging Bitcoin's potential as a dynamic financial tool by integrating it to DeFi collaborating with technological and infrastructural partners on a common, ecosystem-driven aim to bring Bitcoin to DeFi. | $10.7M | Seed | Jul 02, 2024 |  |
| Root Protocol | Root Protocol is developing an operating system that combines an intent-centric aggregator of digital identities, virtual accounts, social graphs, and other components to provide unified access to Web3. | $10M | Seed | Jan 19, 2024 |  |
| Dora Factory | Dora Factory is the digital infrastructure builder of the Global Hacker Movement. It creates protocols, toolings, and public good infrastructures that help open source communities and frontier tech builders to thrive. |  | Venture - Series Unknown | Dec 14, 2023 |  |
| Prophetic | Prophetic AI is a non-invasive neurotech company that offers neural devices to help people stabilize and induce lucid dreaming. | $1.1M | Seed | Oct 04, 2023 |  |

10 of 21 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Polychain](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/polychain-capital) — VC Fund, 7 deals together
- [OKX Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/okx-ventures) — VC Fund, 4 deals together
- [OKX Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/block-dream-fund) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Hack VC](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/hack-vc) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [OKX Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ok-blockdream-ventures) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Robot Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/robot-ventures) — VC Fund, 3 deals together

## About Creative Destruction Lab

VC Fund · Toronto, Canada

Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a no-fee/no-equity organization that delivers an objectives-based mentoring program for massively scalable, pre-seed stage, science- and technology-based companies. Its nine-month program allows founders to learn from experienced entrepreneurs, increasing their likelihood of success. Founded in 2012 byProfessor Ajay Agrawal at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, the program has expanded to thirteen sites across seven countries: Seattle, Oxford, Paris, Atlanta, Estonia, Wisconsin, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Berlin, Melbourne and Halifax.

5 contacts available at Creative Destruction Lab.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Daniel Mulet Lind | Associate Director, Quantum Machine Learning | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/daniel-mulet-lind |
| Dennis Kavelman | Founding Partner and Associate | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/dennis-kavelman |
| Frederic Bastien | Fellow | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/frederic-bastien |
| Mark Dobbin | Founding Partner and Fellow | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/mark-dobbin |
| Nils Herrmann | Stream Lead AgriFood | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/nils-arne-herrmann |

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## FAQ

### What does Tekin Salimi invest in?

Tekin Salimi invests primarily in Blockchain, Cryptocurrency and Information Technology startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 21 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Tekin Salimi last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Tekin Salimi closed in Apr 2026. Shizune tracks 21 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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