Current Position & Biography
Caterina Fake is a co-founder and general partner of Yes VC, an early-stage investment firm. The firm's current team page identifies her as its founder and venture investor, while her own website describes her general-partner role. Her professional background includes co-founding Flickr and Hunch and previously chairing Etsy. These are distinct from her current investing work.
Yes VC focuses on pre-seed and seed companies across multiple sectors. Its digital-assets exposure sits alongside a broader portfolio, rather than establishing the firm as an exclusively cryptocurrency-focused investor. The United States is the primary professional market recorded here; the profile does not infer a current residential address from her international activities.
Notable Contributions
Fake announced Yes VC with Jyri Engeström in January 2018. In that firsthand announcement, she said their existing investments in Orchid, Spell and Gaze would be rolled into the fund. This provides a direct, named connection to Orchid rather than an assumption based on her prominence in technology.
The firm's current portfolio lists Orchid and Dapper Labs in its “DeFi, DAOs, and Nfts” section. Orchid is described there as decentralized, open-source internet technology. Dapper Labs is identified through NFT platforms including NBA Top Shot and CryptoKitties. These are firm-level portfolio disclosures; they do not establish the amount of Fake's personal investment, her ownership of particular tokens or a board position at either company.
Dapper Labs' own current site describes its work in digital ownership and open infrastructure and presents NBA Top Shot, CryptoKitties and Flow among its products and network activities. That establishes the digital-assets relevance of the portfolio relationship without attributing the company's engineering or product decisions to Fake.
Her earlier community-building work also supplies relevant background. Creative Commons' 2010 profile described how Flickr enabled users to apply CC licenses to photographs. This contribution concerns licensing and online creative communities, not blockchain development. It helps explain the broader context of her interests while remaining separate from the documented Orchid and Dapper Labs investment links.
Why Katharos Is Following Them
Katharos follows Fake at the intersection of consumer technology, creative communities and early-stage capital. The specific reason for inclusion is her documented connection to Orchid and the digital-assets companies listed by Yes VC. Her experience building platforms offers an additional perspective on how new products attract users and establish communities.
The reporting opportunity is to examine whether investment theses translate into useful products and durable participation. A portfolio listing alone does not demonstrate adoption, financial performance or benefits for creators. Those questions require evidence from the individual companies and their users.
Areas to Follow
New, explicitly announced Yes VC investments in digital assets or decentralized infrastructure.
Developments at Orchid and Dapper Labs, with company actions distinguished from investor involvement.
Fake's public commentary on ownership, creative communities and platform design.
Changes in disclosed roles or portfolio relationships.
Reporting Scope
This profile covers verified investing relationships and public professional activity. It does not claim that Fake created Orchid, operates its network, designed Flow or personally holds any named cryptocurrency. Historical announcements remain dated, and current portfolio listings should not be read as audited holdings or investment recommendations. NFT ownership, licensing of creative work and control of a platform are separate issues.
Katharos Category
Investment & Founders
Photo Credit
Robert Scoble, Caterina Fake at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, January 25, 2008. CC BY 2.0. Orientation corrected, cropped and resized. Original and license: Sources 7–8.
Source review: November 6, 2026.