Michelle Chao

I work closely with a small number of climate and deep tech companies, mostly on operations, fundraising, and the transition from R&D to commercialization. Current engagements span materials science, critical minerals separation, metals electrolysis, biotech, and diagnostics. I also angel invest.

I've always been interested in sustainability, going back to researching solar cells in high school. I studied Materials Science & Engineering at MIT, graduating in 2017. I served as chief engineer of the solar car team, building three cars from scratch, and researched organic photovoltaics. From there, I joined Markforged as a materials engineer working on metal 3D printing R&D, where I became a named co‑inventor on four U.S. patents. I later moved into product management, running the materials product line across metal, fiber, and polymer and launching seven new materials in 2019. Markforged later went public via SPAC at a $2.1B valuation.

In 2020, I co-founded Phoenix Tailings, growing it over five years from five people working in a backyard to a 40‑plus person company with three facilities and an operating pilot plant producing rare earth metals. As Co‑Founder & COO, I led engineering, operations, and IP strategy, helped raise over $70M in venture capital, and built core business infrastructure from the ground up, including HR, IT, payroll, EHS, accounting, and compliance.