Tony Dong
About Tony Dong
Tony Dong is based in San Francisco and is the CEO and founder of Propel Code AI. He studied computer engineering at the University of Waterloo (BASc Honours). Early in his career he worked as an engineer at TellApart, Twitter and Periscope.
In 2018 he co-founded PerShop and served as its CTO. PerShop was a Y Combinator company (W19). He then joined Rippling, where he rose to VP of Engineering. Crunchbase lists that VP role from April 2023 to November 2023. A conference bio says he helped grow Rippling's engineering organization from 60 to over 600 people and built its core platform and HR products.
In November 2024, Crunchbase says, he started Propel Code AI. The company builds AI agents that review pull requests, and its Chroma case study lists it at seed stage. On a Rippling customer session, Dong said Propel grew out of development bottlenecks he saw at Rippling as AI-generated code entered engineering teams.
Crunchbase lists Dong as an angel investor at "Various Startups" since 2018. It counts 2 investments, 2 portfolio companies, no lead investments and no exits. Crunchbase gives Hamming AI (seed round) as his latest investment.
CB Insights and Tracxn each list one investment: a $4M seed round in Cercli on September 2, 2024. Other participants in that round included Afore Capital and Y Combinator. Dong's own contribution to either round is not public.
Hamming AI is the only clearly AI-named company in his public record. Crunchbase lists it as a seed round, but the date is not visible in the public view.
His main AI activity is operating Propel Code AI. He has spoken publicly about building it as a solo founder who hired eight engineers in a month, on the Engineering Founders podcast in July 2025.
The two public deals are both seed rounds. Tracxn classifies his investing under enterprise applications, and Cercli is based in the United Arab Emirates. Dong has not published a check size, a stated thesis or a list of sectors he targets. Founders should treat the above as observed deals, not a stated mandate.
- Hamming AI: seed round listed on Crunchbase as his latest investment; the year is not public.
- Cercli: seed round of $4M in September 2024, with Afore Capital and Y Combinator among the participants; Tracxn files it under enterprise applications.
- crunchbase.com/person/tony-dong-fcd1
- crunchbase.com/organization/propel-code-ai
- cbinsights.com/investor/tony-dong
- tracxn.com/d/people/tony-dong/__A584Y-2UNXyIOCVpLB3s9pYQx3l2fVUEuD1Ii0
- sfelc.com/annual2023/roundTables/hiring-high-performing-teams
- trychroma.com/customers/propel-ai-case-study
- rippling.ondemand.goldcast.io/on-demand/247da476-13d5-497d-aee7-fdd056
- podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/engineering-founders/id1607135532
Investing activity
Tony Dong has made 2 investments according to Crunchbase across 2 portfolio companies, and has founded 2 companies.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Tony Dong
Does Tony Dong invest in AI startups?
Crunchbase lists Hamming AI, a seed investment, among his two angel deals. He also runs an AI company, Propel Code AI, so he knows AI developer tooling from the founder side.
What stage does Tony Dong invest in?
His two publicly listed investments, Hamming AI and Cercli, are both seed rounds. He has not published a stage preference.
What is Tony Dong's check size?
No check size is public. Crunchbase, CB Insights and Tracxn do not show the amount he put into either round.
What companies has Tony Dong founded?
He co-founded PerShop (YC W19) in 2018 and was its CTO. He founded Propel Code AI, an AI code review company, in 2024.
What is Tony Dong's background before angel investing?
He was an engineer at TellApart, Twitter and Periscope, then co-founded PerShop. He later became VP of Engineering at Rippling.
How can founders contact Tony Dong?
He has a LinkedIn profile at linkedin.com/in/tonydong3 and an X account, @TonyDong3. His X bio points to Propel Code AI. He has no public angel-specific submission process.
Is Tony Dong an angel investor?
Yes. Tony Dong invests personally as an angel and is CEO & Founder at Propel Code AI. Crunchbase counts 2 investments.
Where is Tony Dong based?
Tony Dong is based in San Francisco, California, United States.
How can founders reach Tony Dong?
Founders on Lounge can see Tony Dong's contact details in AI Investor Contacts (paid plans), check for a warm introduction through members who worked with them under Warm Paths, and add Tony Dong to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.