Tekin Salimi

Tekin Salimi is the founder and managing partner of dao5, a crypto venture platform purpose-built for the next wave of open networks. Dao5 backs research-driven teams at seed and pre-seed and is structured to convert into a community-governed DAO after its initial investment period, aligning incentives between investors, builders, and users. Since launching in 2022, Tekin has expanded the platform with a follow-on vehicle of roughly $222 million and a portfolio that includes experiments such as Berachain and Bittensor. His focus spans decentralized infrastructure, security and cryptography, onchain data, and developer experience, with a bias toward primitives other builders can compose on. Previously a general partner at Polychain Capital, he partnered with early founders on token design, governance, and treasury policy. Before venture, Tekin practiced corporate law at Torys LLP in Toronto across M&A, debt finance, and securities. He earned his J.D. from York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, studied on exchange at the National University of Singapore, and is called to the Bar of Ontario. He has served as an advisor and board observer to the Blockchain Association and previously advised the Blockchain Education Network. Tekin is also a writer; his essays on organizational design and token networks have appeared in CoinDesk and Cointelegraph, notably “2018 and Beyond: Tokens Are Slowly Eating the Firm.” Now based in Dubai, he invests globally and often sources opportunities through university labs and independent research groups. He is known for combining legal rigor with builder empathy, championing transparent governance, and encouraging teams to think in decades rather than quarters. He mentors emerging managers and student builders worldwide. He speaks English and Farsi. When not working with founders, Tekin shares lessons on podcasts and conference stages about portfolio construction in crypto, founder-market fit, and the mechanics of decentralizing control as communities and protocols scale.