# David Smilow

> David Smilow is a Series A investor backing Incubators and Venture Capital. See 1 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Location: New York, United States
- Total investments: 1
- Last investment: Feb 2000
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-smilow-6a622a28

David Smilow is a Series A investor in New York focused on Incubators and Venture Capital. Mr. Smilow serves as Managing Director of Avenida and is a member of the Investment Committee. Mr. Smilow is a founder of Avenida, where he is responsible for portfolio and risk management. Mr. Smilow has been a sponsor of over a dozen start-up companies and has acquired approximately USD $250 million of real estate assets in the United States andLatin America over the course of his career. Mr. Smilow was the Founder and Chairman of Jefferson National Financial (“JNF”), an insurance company with over USD $2 billion of assets that offers variable annuity and other retirement products. Mr. Smilow oversaw investment activities and strategic planning for JNF, which was sold to Citibank in 2011.In addition, Mr. Smilow was the Founder, Chairman, CEO and CIO of TeleBanc (now E*Trade Bank). Under his direction, Telebanc became the largest Internet bank worldwide before its sale to E*Trade in 1999. Prior to founding TeleBanc, Mr. Smilow was a fixed income portfolio manager and trader at Goldman Sachs and Drexel Burnham Lambert.Mr. Smilow serves or has served on the Board of Directors of nine different companies, as well on the Board of Outward Bound Minnesota, Trust for Public Land Maine, and the Johns Hopkins Second Decade Society. Mr. Smilow has also lectured at Harvard Business School, New York University and Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Smilow received a BA from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for David Smilow: work email, personal email, work phone, personal phone and socials. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-email/david-smilow?utm_source=investor_profile

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Incubators | 1 | 100% |
| Venture Capital | 1 | 100% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| LaunchCenter 39 | LaunchCenter 39 works hand-in-hand with entrepreneurs to build Internet and technology businesses from the ground up, providing full-service incubation that generates the fastest time to market and best potential for returns. Through dedicated teams of specialists and generalists, and continual infusion of outside talent through our on-siterecruiting efforts, LaunchCenter 39 transforms breakthrough ideas into dynamic companies by equipping partners with the skills and talented people required for success. | $4M | Series A | Feb 03, 2000 | http://www.lc39.com |

1 of 1 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Headline](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/headlinevc) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

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## Featured in investor lists
- [Venture Capital Investors in Japan](https://shizune.co/investors/venture-capital-investors-japan)
- [Venture Capital Angel Investors in Asia](https://shizune.co/investors/venture-capital-angel-investors-asia)

## FAQ

### What does David Smilow invest in?

David Smilow invests primarily in Incubators and Venture Capital startups, most often at Series A stage. Most of the 1 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Japan. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### How do I contact David Smilow?

Public channels for David Smilow include LinkedIn. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### When did David Smilow last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for David Smilow closed in Feb 2000. Shizune tracks 1 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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