Phil Inagaki

Phil Inagaki is Managing Partner & Chief Investment Officer at Xora Innovation, where he oversees the firm's investment strategy, portfolio management, and capital deployment across groundbreaking deep tech ventures and leads Xora Venture Labs, the firm's startup incubation practice. He is the co-founder and board chair at Amperesand and the board chair at Aether Fuels, and holds board positions at Peak Energy, Summit Nanotech, OpenLight and Gruve. He also led Xora's investments in Celestial AI and HyperLight.

Phil spent the first 15 years of his career as a deep tech founder and CEO, building companies in fields such as semiconductors, energy, advanced manufacturing, and AI. His longest tenure was as Co-Founder and CEO of Polyera, where he took a novel semiconductor technology from Northwestern University to successful commercialization with multiple fab partners in Asia. At 24, he founded Polyera, a semiconductor materials startup, where he led the company through various stages of growth. As Chief Executive Officer at Voxel8, Phil oversaw the development of multi-material digital manufacturing technology, and he brought experience from previous roles at Xora Innovation, The Engine, Base Capital and Voxel8. Phil has raised over $100mm in funding across five start-ups.

Phil holds an A.B. in Physics from Princeton University magna cum laude and 12 US patents. By the time he transitioned to venture capital at 38, Phil had served as both a founding and hired CEO, raised venture rounds from pre-seed to Series D, successfully commercialized multiple deep tech innovations.

Career history

• Managing Partner & Chief Investment Officer at Xora Innovation
• Operating Partner at The Engine, a venture firm that invests in early-stage Tough Tech companies
• CEO at Voxel8: Multi-Material Digital Manufacturing
• Co-Founder and CEO of Polyera (11-year tenure), leading the company's growth into a world leader in flexible electronics
• Co-Founder and Executive Chairman at Base Capital

What Phil Inagaki could bring to Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Xora Innovation: With 15 years as a founder and operator across semiconductors, energy, advanced manufacturing and AI, combined with demonstrated success raising over $100 million across five startups and holding 12 US patents, Inagaki brings deep technical credibility and operational expertise to Xora's investment thesis. His transition to venture capital at 38, after serving as both founding and hired CEO, positions him to identify and support transformational deep tech entrepreneurs while providing hands-on guidance through the venture development journey—critical for Xora's early-stage and pre-seed stage deep tech portfolio focused on semiconductors, climate energy, and AI applications.