Reed Jobs, son of the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, is spearheading an ambitious venture in the biotech sector with his firm, Yosemite. Launched in 2023, Yosemite is dedicated solely to oncology, aiming to revolutionise cancer treatment by building new companies from the ground up, often directly from early academic research. Jobs, who prefers to discuss his work rather than his famous surname, highlighted the firm's growth and its unique approach to tackling one of medicine's greatest challenges.
Three years since its inception, Yosemite has expanded its team to 17 and is actively pursuing its mission to create new areas of medicine. The firm's strategy involves a distinctive blend of philanthropic funding and external investment capital to nurture nascent ideas from university labs. Approximately a third of its investment goes into companies it creates itself, often in collaboration with leading academic institutions like Yale, Berkeley, and Stanford, while the remainder supports promising companies developed by others.
A significant development for Yosemite is the increasing role of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Jobs noted that AI has transitioned from a mere curiosity to a crucial element in the firm's operations, influencing both the discovery of new drugs and the design of clinical trials. This technological integration, alongside the impending patent expiration of several blockbuster drugs, is creating what Jobs describes as an expanding opportunity for innovation in the biotech landscape.
Among the portfolio companies Jobs is particularly proud of are Azalea, which originated from a grant to Jennifer Doudna’s lab and is now in clinical trials, and Quarry. Quarry, co-founded with Craig Crews, is exploring a novel therapeutic approach called induced proximity, where drugs are designed to physically bring disease-causing proteins closer to the cell’s natural breakdown systems, rather than directly blocking them. These innovations underscore Yosemite's commitment to pioneering new treatment modalities.
The firm recently announced the initial close of its second fund, targeting an impressive $350 million. A notable aspect of Yosemite's financial model is its dedication to philanthropy, with 2.5% of its assets under management allocated to a donor-advised fund for no-strings-attached grants, supplemented by an annual £1 million from its management fees. This dual approach aims to de-risk early research and foster groundbreaking discoveries that might otherwise struggle to secure traditional venture capital.