Jason Davis

Jason Davis is based in New York, New York, and is Co-Founder and CEO of Simon AI, the customer data and marketing company formerly called Simon Data. He holds a PhD in machine learning from the University of Texas at Austin. Crunchbase also lists a BS in computer science from Cornell University (2003). Before founding companies he worked on search algorithms at Google.

His first company was Adtuitive, a retail ad technology platform that automated online ads for retailers. Etsy acquired it in 2009. A LinkedIn recommendation from a former partner says he raised capital from 406 Ventures before the sale. At Etsy he was Director of Search and Data. He led teams covering data science, analytics and big data infrastructure, and worked on Etsy's search ads and search relevancy changes. Forbes reports that he left Etsy in 2012 and took a year off to travel. He built early prototypes of Simon Data in 2014 and went to market in 2015.

Simon AI was founded in 2013 with CTO Matt Walker, whom he met in graduate school. Crunchbase lists Macquarie Capital and .406 Ventures among its investors, and it also lists him as a co-founder of CmomGO (2009). On LinkedIn he announced that Simon AI had been acquired by Monetate. Crunchbase also lists him as an advisor to Lover.ly and AdDaptive Intelligence.

Crunchbase counts 3 investments and 3 portfolio companies for Jason Davis. It shows 0 lead investments and 0 exits. All three listed investments are seed rounds: Outgo Inc, Flip CX and Constructor. The Crunchbase page hides the dates and amounts, so this profile does not state them.

His Wellfound profile describes him as an active member of the NYC startup community. It says he has invested in over a dozen startups, including Justworks and Compass. That is his own description, and Crunchbase does not list those companies, so the figures differ by source. The same profile lists him as an advisor to Loverly, Compass and UrbanCompass.

He does not appear to run a fund. The public record shows individual angel investments alongside his operating role at Simon AI.

The sources we found do not identify a set of AI-focused angel investments with dates. His AI experience comes mainly from operating roles. He has a PhD in machine learning, data mining and statistics, he worked on search at Google and Etsy, and he runs Simon AI, which describes itself as an AI-driven customer data platform for 1:1 marketing and journey orchestration.

On LinkedIn he has written that Simon's growth reaccelerated because of its investment in vertical AI for commerce rather than wrapping generalist language models. This is a view about building products, not a stated investment thesis. Founders building applied AI for marketing, commerce, search or data infrastructure may find his operating background relevant, but he has not said publicly that he invests in those areas.

Stage: the three investments Crunchbase lists are seed rounds. He is not listed as a lead investor in any of them.

Sectors: his own operating background is in ad tech, search, marketplaces, data infrastructure and marketing technology. The Crunchbase portfolio is too small to show a clear sector pattern, and he has not published an investment thesis.

Geography: he is based in New York and describes himself as part of the NYC startup community. Crunchbase and Wellfound list him in New York City.

Check size: not public. No source we found gives a typical check size or fund size.

• Outgo Inc: seed round listed by Crunchbase as his most recent recorded investment. The date is not shown in the source.
• Flip CX: seed round listed by Crunchbase. The date is not shown in the source.
• Constructor: seed round listed by Crunchbase, not as a lead investor. The date is not shown in the source.
• Justworks and Compass: named in his Wellfound profile as startups he has invested in. Crunchbase does not list them, and no dates are given.
• Simon AI: the company he co-founded and leads. He is the founder and CEO, not an investor, and it has been acquired by Monetate.

• crunchbase.com/person/jason-davis
• crunchbase.com/organization/simon-data
• crunchbase.com/organization/simon-data/profiles_and_contacts
• linkedin.com/in/drjasondavis
• wellfound.com/p/drjasondavis
• forbes.com/sites/brucerogers/2021/10/20/jason-davis-simon-data-pioneer
• simon.ai/about-us
• snowflake.com/en/blog/authors/jason-davis