Michael Smith is Co-Founder and General Partner of Regeneration.VC. He began in media as a marketing and digital leader at Smith Broadcasting and as a touring DJ, founded background music company The Playlist Generation in 2006, and co-founded Creative Space in 2010, a real estate firm behind roughly 80 adaptive reuse projects in Los Angeles and San Francisco. In 2015 he formed Ponvalley, an environmentally focused family office, before co-founding Regeneration.VC, where he now leads the firm's European expansion. He serves on the boards of portfolio companies Smarter Sorting and Greyparrot and of the American Renewable Energy Institute, and is a founding advisor to the Salk Institute's Harnessing Plants Initiative. He is a graduate of Northwestern University.
Education
Northwestern University
Previous Experience
Founder, Ponvalley family office (2015)
Co-founder, Creative Space (2010)
Founder, The Playlist Generation (2006)
Marketing and digital leader, Smith Broadcasting
Notable Investments
Smarter SortingGreyparrot
Board Seats
Smarter Sorting
Greyparrot
American Renewable Energy Institute
Sustainable Change Alliance
Career Timeline
2006
Founded background music company The Playlist Generation.
2010
Co-founded Creative Space, a real estate firm behind roughly 80 adaptive reuse projects in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
2015
Formed Ponvalley, an environmentally focused family office.
2020
Co-founded Regeneration.VC with Dan Fishman.
2022
Launched the firm's $45 million inaugural fund.
2024
Led the raise of a Fund II targeting 150 million euros, anchored in part by Invest-NL, while heading the firm's European expansion.