Fundraising Fox

Ellen Chisa

Investor

Partner at boldstart ventures

Somerville, Massachusetts

Writes $250K – $2M checks · typically $1M

About

Ellen Chisa, Dark’s cofounder who built a backend language, editor and infrastructure, meets founders pre‑company and focuses on developer adoption via tight learning experiments to displace incumbents in 5–10 years.

Invests in

AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareSaaS

Experience

  1. boldstart venturesPartnercurrent2022 — presentSomerville, Massachusetts, United States
  2. boldstart venturesFounder-in-Residence2021 — 2022Somerville, Massachusetts, United States
  3. GeneralistBoard Directorcurrent2024 — present
  4. Topos BioBoard Directorcurrent2025 — present
  5. LiveblocksBoard Directorcurrent2022 — present
  6. Noded AIBoard Directorcurrent2025 — present
  7. StellateBoard Director2021 — 2024
  8. DarkCofounder/CEO2017 — 2020San Francisco Bay Area
  9. LolaVP Product2015 — 2017Boston, MA
  10. KickstarterProduct Manager2012 — 2014New York, New York
  11. MicrosoftProgram Manager2010 — 2012Redmond, WA
  12. Alight LearningCo-Founder2008 — 2010Boston, MA

Education

  1. Franklin W. Olin College of EngineeringBachelor of Science (B.S.), Electrical and Computer Engineering
  2. Harvard Business SchoolMBA
  3. University of WashingtonHuman Centered Design and Engineering
  4. International Academy

Skills & more

Leadership13Strategy3User Interface Design54Project Management29Software Development22Product Management30User Experience Design7Agile Project Management6Agile Methodologies7User Experience8User Scenarios4Project Planning3
+12 moreTestingMobile ApplicationsMobile TechnologyWindows PhonePhilanthropyScrumSoftware DesignEducationPresentationsUser-centered DesignMicrosoft OfficeAwesomeness

From Ellen's professional profile.

Same school

Shared employers

Deals · 2

Topos Bio, Inc.Board seat

via boldstart ventures · filed Jan 2025 · $10.5M raise

OpenSaucedBoard seat

via boldstart ventures · filed May 2023 · $3.5M raise

Attribution from SEC filings, press coverage, and firm rosters.

Colleagues at boldstart ventures

Network8

Investors connected to Ellen in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.