Tori Orr is an investor at NGP Capital, a $1.6B venture firm where she backs B2B startups from Series A to C across the US and Europe, with a focus on industrial technology, enterprise software, cybersecurity, and edge and data infrastructure. Before joining NGP, she held early-stage investing roles at JetBlue Ventures, Vera Equity, Harlem Capital, and Dorm Room Fund. She began her career at Intel as a Mechanical Design Engineer and later a Product Manager, and also contributed to the launch of the Model 3 during her time at Tesla. Tori earned an MBA from The Wharton School, a B.S.E. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, and a B.S. in Mathematics from Spelman College.

 What is a value, principle, or philosophy that has meaningfully shaped your journey? How does it continue to influence how you invest, lead, or approach challenges?

 A core principle that has shaped my journey is: don’t shy away from hard things. Early in my career as an engineer, I realized that the most meaningful work often lived on the other side of complexity. Leaning into hard problems didn’t just build resilience, it sharpened my curiosity and taught me how to think from first principles. That mindset now deeply influences how I invest. I love going deep on technical diligence, understanding what truly differentiates a product, and backing teams who are architecting the future rather than chasing what’s trendy. I also have a big imagination for what the world could look like when we apply technology to the right problems. I believe the hardest challenges are often the ones most worth solving, and I want to partner with people who see that too.

 Is there a technology, idea, or movement that most people overlook (or dismiss) which you believe will define the next era of innovation? What draws you to this perspective? 

I believe the next era of innovation will be defined by how we scale AI in the physical world, which means solving foundational bottlenecks like energy and cooling for data centers, unlocking real-world data to train embodied AI systems, and securing the critical minerals and supply chains that everything else depends on. I also believe the people who will solve these problems won’t all come from Silicon Valley. Some of my biggest lessons came from factory floors in Tennessee, Oregon, and Malaysia, a reminder that diversity of background, geography, and lived experience isn’t just a social good, it’s a competitive advantage when you are building for the real world