Tom Chi is a physicist, engineer, inventor, and venture capitalist whose career spans astrophysical research, Fortune 500 technology leadership, social entrepreneurship, and deep tech investing.
He began his professional journey conducting astrophysical research at the Harvard-Smithsonian Lab for Astrophysics, studying active galactic nuclei in the infrared, before earning degrees in electrical engineering from Cornell University and contributing to hardware research in autonomous robotics, sensor fusion, parallel computing, and medical imaging.
Tom went on to hold influential roles at Microsoft, where he drove major releases and new feature development for Microsoft Outlook, and at Yahoo, where he developed new product lines and served as an executive leading the product, user experience, and analytics divisions of Yahoo Search — a multi-billion dollar business operating across 44 countries. He then joined Google as a founding member of Google X, where he led the product experience team and contributed to landmark projects including Google Glass, the Google Self-Driving Car, and Project Loon. Following his time at Google, Tom immersed himself in global development work, mentoring over 200 entrepreneurs tackling challenges such as access to clean water, electricity, education, healthcare, and employment in underserved communities. He took on advisory, investor, and board roles with more than a dozen global development startups while also serving as Chief Product Officer at Gigwalk and Factory in the Silicon Valley startup ecosystem.
A sought-after speaker, Tom has addressed audiences at TED, YPO, NSF, and the Aspen Institute on topics including innovation, rapid learning, and social entrepreneurship. He later formalized his investment work as a venture partner at Hack VC and an EIR at Crosslink Capital, where he contributed to deal teams across a $330M and $270M fund with a focus on deep tech diligence. Today, Tom is the Founding Partner of At One Ventures, where he invests in disruptive deep tech companies working to reinvent the industrial economy and help humanity become a net positive to nature — combining his lifelong passions for breakthrough technology and solving the world's most pressing global challenges.
