Phoebe Wang

Investment Partner, Amazon Climate Pledge Fund

2022 C3E Business Award Winner

Phoebe Wang is a cleantech venture capitalist who serves as an Investment Partner at the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund. Previously, she was an Investment Director at Shell Ventures where she led investments in early- and late-stage startups working on technologies to accelerate the energy transition, including in the areas of hydrogen, carbon management, energy storage, mobility, and power. She also chaired Shell Ventures’ early-stage investment committee and co-led its diversity and inclusion task force.

During her 10-year tenure as a venture capital investor, Wang has invested more than $150 million in frontier technology startups such as Antora, Celadyne, ZeroAvia, Veros Systems, Ionomr, Li Industries, Aurora Hydrogen, Bluware, Quanterra, South 8 Technologies, Connected Freight, FreeWire, Xpansiv, NIO Capital, PowerShare, MaaS Global, and many others. She sits on the boards of ZeroAvia, Veros Systems (acquired by Baker Hughes), Ionomr, Aurora Hydrogen, Bluware, Quanterra, and South 8 Technologies, and she is a member of the Rocky Mountain Institute Third Derivative Corporate Founding Partner Advisory Board, the Global Corporate Venturing Leadership Advisory Board, the Counter Club Advisory Council, and the Rice Alliance Energy Advisory Board.

Wang has more than a decade of experience in clean tech with a strong passion for fighting climate change for the future generations. In addition to her investment experience, she was also an entrepreneur who built a start-up in technology commercialization and—earlier in her career—as an engineer in chemical and semiconductor industries. Wang is a frequent guest lecturer at Brandeis University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rice University, and the University of California, Berkeley.

Wang holds an MBA concentrated in Climate and Finance from Rice University and a BS in Materials Science and Engineering from Nanyang Technological University. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.

+ Learn More About Phoebe Wang's Clean Energy Journey

Phoebe is an investment partner at the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund. Phoebe didn’t start out as a business-focused champion of clean tech. After earning a bachelor’s degree in materials engineering, she realized she had an interest in expanding her skills and earned an MBA from Rice University. Today, she utilizes both her scientific knowledge and business expertise to help people make their ‘dreams come true.’

Education and experience helped her build credibility in situations when she was often the only woman at the table, but Phoebe considers building strong relationships the key to her success. Today, she serves on the board of numerous organizations that value her insight and guidance. Over the past 10 years, she has invested more than $150 million in clean energy in more than 20 startups, creating hundreds of clean energy jobs and making an impact in the fight against climate change.

Completing the investment is only the start of the journey. Getting from zero to one requires commitment, patience, and time. Phoebe works closely with founders to achieve success by following three simple rules. First, she focuses on relationships with the team to build trust and communication to drive the team to set firm goals and vision. Second, she helps them to identify challenges and blind spots, and makes recommendations for training and tools that will help overcome them. Lastly, she helps them to set milestones that will help keep up team morale and instill tenacity during the early years, when success seems far to reach.

Phoebe’s work doesn’t stop at the conference room. Every day, she strives to mentor young women, grow teams, and encourage people to add new skills and training to their resumes. Phoebe’s advice to students: “If you are working toward a scientific degree, consider minoring in a business program to balance your skills.” Building a diverse set of skills can help any founder to grow a company, and Phoebe has more than a decade of success to support her advice.