Where does Yunkai Zhou work?

Yunkai Zhou is Partner at FirsthandVC.

What check size does Yunkai Zhou write?

Yunkai Zhou typically writes checks of $100K – $5M.

Where did Yunkai Zhou go to school?

Yunkai Zhou studied at Tsinghua University (B.S., Electrical Engineering); Drexel University (Ph.D., Electrical Engineering).

Yunkai Zhou

Investor

Partner at FirsthandVC

San Francisco Bay Area

Writes $100K – $5M checks · typically $1.5M

Find your path to Yunkai

763 people in our graph share verified history with Yunkai — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

Nancy WangunlockedYunkai: together at Google (2014–2015)

×6Yunkai: together at Google

Yunkai: together at Tsinghua University

Yunkai: together at Drexel University

About

Yunkai Zhou is founder and CEO of Gaida Corporation and previously founded Saige. He spent over 20 years in engineering roles at Microsoft, Google, and Meta, working across infrastructure, AI, web frontend, and mobile technologies. Zhou is an active angel investor and has experience leading cross-functional teams in product development, design, sales, marketing, and operations.

Experience

Gaida CorporationFounder & CEOcurrent2024 — presentSan Francisco Bay Area
Park Rangers Capital 🏕️Limited Partnercurrent2025 — presentNew York City Metropolitan Area
MVP VenturesLimited Partnercurrent2025 — presentSan Francisco Bay Area
FirsthandVCLimited Partnercurrent2022 — presentNew York City Metropolitan Area
Foothill VenturesLimited Partnercurrent2017 — presentSan Francisco Bay Area
MetaDirector of Engineering2019 — 2024San Francisco Bay Area
MetaPrincipal Software Engineer2019San Francisco Bay Area
Leap.ai (acquired by Meta)Co-founder & CTO2016 — 2019San Francisco Bay Area
Compass ConferenceCo-Chair2018San Francisco Bay Area
Sumo LogicHead of Machine Learning2015 — 2016San Francisco Bay Area
GoogleSenior Staff Software Engineer / Tech Lead Manager2012 — 2015San Francisco Bay Area
GoogleStaff Software Engineer / Tech Lead Manager2009 — 2012Greater Pittsburgh Region
GoogleSenior Software Engineer2006 — 2009Greater Pittsburgh Region
GoogleSoftware Engineer2006Greater Pittsburgh Region
MicrosoftSoftware Design Engineer2003 — 2006Greater Seattle Area

Skills & more

MapReduce20C++42XML7T-SQLC#15Linux18Python8Java7Large Scale Systems4Machine Learning50Computer Security2Network Architecture1

+10 more

Resource AllocationDatabase DesignDistributed SystemsSoftware EngineeringSoftware DesignScalabilityAgile MethodologiesAlgorithmsSoftware DevelopmentCloud Computing

Languages Chinese · English

From Yunkai's professional profile.

Colleagues at FirsthandVC

Akshay Sharma

Partner at FirsthandVC

Cheryl Porro

Investor at FirsthandVC

Dessie Sadrzadeh

Angel at FirsthandVC

Ludovic Ulrich

Partner at FirsthandVC

Mike Kreaden

Partner at FirsthandVC

Phil Calvin

Investor at FirsthandVC

Samuel Yuk Lai Suen

Partner at FirsthandVC

Simon Chan

Managing Partner at FirsthandVC

Network1

Akshay Sharma

Partner at FirsthandVC

Investors connected to Yunkai in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Yunkai Zhou?: Yunkai Zhou is founder and CEO of Gaida Corporation and previously founded Saige. He spent over 20 years in engineering roles at Microsoft, Google, and Meta, working across infrastructure, AI, web frontend, and mobile technologies. Zhou is an active angel investor and has experience leading cross-functional teams in product development, design, sales, marketing, and operations.
Where does Yunkai Zhou work?: Yunkai Zhou is Partner at FirsthandVC.
What check size does Yunkai Zhou write?: Yunkai Zhou typically writes checks of $100K – $5M.
Where did Yunkai Zhou go to school?: Yunkai Zhou studied at Tsinghua University (B.S., Electrical Engineering); Drexel University (Ph.D., Electrical Engineering).

Same school

Also attended Tsinghua University278

Zhenyu TangInvestment Director at Intel Capital Vinnie LauriaFounding Partner at Golden Gate Ventures Ted BreyerPartner at Breyer Capital Alexander KremerPartner at Keen Venture Partners Collin WallaceGeneral Partner at Lobby Capital Song MaoManaging Director, China at Qualcomm Ventures

+ 272 more

Also attended Drexel University112

AdamAdvisor at Clear Ventures Jesse MiddletonGeneral Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners Nabil UllahAssociate at Osage University Partners Victoria LewisVenture Professional at Medical Excellence Capital Eliza DragomirSenior Analyst at SKY VC Marcie ReillyChief Growth Officer at The Innovation Space

+ 106 more

Shared employers

Also worked at Meta410

Nat FriedmanCo-lead of Meta Superintelligence Labs; co-founder of NFDG Daniel GrossMeta Superintelligence Labs; co-founder of NFDG and Safe Superintelligence Drew HoustonCo-founder & CEO of Dropbox Gabriel PereyraCo-founder & President of Harvey TinaInvestments & Portfolio Services Team Member at Clear Ventures Mike ArpaiaComputer scientist working on machine learning and data infrastructure

+ 404 more

Also worked at Sumo Logic23

Chiraag DeoraPrincipal at Greycroft Sahir AzamInvestor at Index Ventures Ahmed Al-BaharEntrepreneur in Residence at Storm Ventures Zack IsaacsonVenture Partner at Rackhouse Venture Management Lp Kat CreamerOperations Manager at Red Cell Incubation Randy GleinFounder and Managing Partner at DFJ

+ 17 more

Also worked at Google2,000

Kai-Fu LeeChairman of Sinovation Ventures and CEO of 01.AI Brian SingermanCo-founder of GPx; Partner Emeritus at Founders Fund Jess LeePartner and Chief Product Officer at Sequoia Capital Hunter WalkCo-founder & Partner at Homebrew Aydin SenkutFounder & Managing Partner at Felicis Laela SturdyManaging Partner at CapitalG

+ 1,994 more

Also worked at Microsoft1,856

Reid HoffmanCo-founder of LinkedIn; Partner at Greylock Garry TanPresident & CEO of Y Combinator Nat FriedmanCo-lead of Meta Superintelligence Labs; co-founder of NFDG Kai-Fu LeeChairman of Sinovation Ventures and CEO of 01.AI Bill GatesCo-founder of Microsoft; Chair of the Gates Foundation Mike KriegerCo-founder of Instagram; Chief Product Officer at Anthropic

+ 1,850 more