Zaki Manian is a San Francisco-based software engineer, protocol developer, and angel investor who became one of the most influential technical figures in the Cosmos and inter-blockchain communication (IBC) ecosystem. He is best known as a co-founder of Iqlusion, a blockchain infrastructure and software development firm that operates validators and contributes to open-source protocol development across multiple proof-of-stake networks.
Manian's path into crypto came through a background in systems programming and security engineering – he previously worked at GitHub before shifting full attention to blockchain infrastructure. His early involvement with the Cosmos project and Tendermint consensus put him at the center of the "internet of blockchains" movement. He contributed directly to the IBC protocol specification, which now connects hundreds of sovereign chains and processes billions of dollars in cross-chain transfers. This technical credibility gave him early access to seed rounds across the Cosmos ecosystem.
Alongside his infrastructure work, Manian co-founded Sommelier Finance, a DeFi protocol designed to bring automated, strategy-driven liquidity management to Ethereum and Cosmos-connected chains. The project positioned itself as a "co-processor" for DeFi, allowing off-chain computation to inform on-chain vault strategies without surrendering custody. Sommelier raised funding from prominent crypto investors and launched its SOMM token, though the protocol has faced the same liquidity and adoption headwinds that challenged most mid-cap DeFi protocols through the 2022–2023 bear market.
Notable investments and affiliations
- Cosmos / ATOM ecosystem projects – Manian was an early contributor and informal advisor to multiple Cosmos SDK-based chains. Public information on specific deal terms is limited.
- Sommelier Finance – co-founder; the project is live on mainnet with active vaults on Ethereum. See Crunchbase profile.
- Iqlusion validator clients – Iqlusion runs validators on Cosmos Hub, Osmosis, Juno, and other IBC-connected networks, giving Manian ongoing operational exposure to the economic health of these chains.
- Early Cosmos-adjacent seed rounds – Manian has publicly discussed participating in angel rounds for projects building in the IBC and CosmWasm space, though specific portfolio names and deal sizes are not consistently disclosed in public filings or press.
Public information about the full breadth of his angel portfolio – specific projects, check sizes, and total assets under management – is limited. He does not operate a formal fund and has not published a portfolio page.
Team and background
Iqlusion, the entity through which much of Manian's infrastructure work flows, was co-founded with colleagues from the early Tendermint/Cosmos developer community. Manian serves as the primary public face. He is active on social media and has spoken at major blockchain conferences including Cosmoverse, EthDenver, and various Interchain Foundation events, often on topics spanning validator economics, IBC protocol design, and decentralized governance.
Recent activity
Through 2024 and into 2025, Manian remained vocal about IBC adoption and cross-chain security, particularly around the Interchain Security (ICS) model that allows the Cosmos Hub to lease security to smaller consumer chains. He has been a public commentator on governance disputes within the Cosmos ecosystem, including debates over ATOM tokenomics and the Cosmos Hub's strategic direction. Sommelier Finance continued iterating on its vault strategies during this period, targeting real-yield DeFi products.
As an angel investor, Manian represents a category of technically credentialed founders-turned-backers who bring protocol-level insight rather than large capital pools. His value to early-stage teams lies primarily in network access within the Cosmos/IBC developer community, validator infrastructure knowledge, and direct experience shipping production blockchain software. Teams building interoperable layer-1 infrastructure or IBC-native DeFi products are the most natural fit for his involvement. For the latest on his activities, his posts on X (@zmanian) remain the most current public source.
