[News Figures] Steve Jobs' Son Who Established Cancer Treatment Fund... "Realized the Role of Capital"

Venture Capital 'Yosemite' Founded... Raises $200 Million
To Operate Health Business Unit Independently from Parent Company

Reed Jobs (31), the only son of Apple founder Steve Jobs, has established a venture capital firm to actively invest in the development of cancer treatments. Having shown an interest in medicine after witnessing his father’s battle with pancreatic cancer, he realized the crucial role of capital in technology development and decided to invest directly.

According to reports from The New York Times (NYT) and others on the 1st (local time), Reed Jobs announced through a press release that he would separate the health division of the charitable organization Emerson Collective into an independent venture capital firm called Yosemite.

Steve Jobs, the only son of Apple founder Steve Jobs (Photo by himself, SNS)

Emerson Collective was founded by Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve Jobs’ wife and Reed Jobs’ mother. Since 2015, the organization has operated a separate health division focused on making cancer a non-fatal disease for humans. Reed Jobs led this division until recently before it became independent.

Steve Jobs had four children. His eldest daughter, Lisa Brennan Jobs, was born out of wedlock when he was 23. Later, in 1991, he married Laurene Powell and had three children: their only son Reed Paul Jobs, and daughters Erin Siena Jobs and Eve Jobs.

Born in 1992, Reed Jobs is said to have been deeply loved by his father. Steve Jobs reportedly told Walter Isaacson, the famous biographer who wrote his biography, “When I was diagnosed with cancer, I would make a deal with God just to see Reed graduate.” Isaacson described Reed as a person who inherited his father’s passion and his mother’s kindness.

As a beloved son, Reed Jobs developed a strong interest in medicine while watching his father’s battle with illness. Steve Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003 and passed away in October 2011 at the age of 56 after an eight-year fight.

In an interview with the NYT, Reed Jobs said, “My father was diagnosed with cancer when I was 12,” and explained that this event sparked his interest in oncology during a summer internship at Stanford University when he was 15. He added, “My father passed away from cancer while I was at Stanford. I wanted to become a real doctor and treat people directly, so I was a pre-med student, but after my father died, it became really difficult to continue.”

Afterward, Reed Jobs changed his major from oncology to history and focused on nuclear weapons policy, earning a master’s degree. However, he eventually joined his mother’s company, Emerson Collective, took charge of the health division, and has invested in various companies and research institutes.

Reed Jobs said, “I have never once wanted to be in the venture capital business.” However, he explained the reason for starting the venture capital business: “But I realized that when you really nurture and create something, capital plays a huge role in the process, influencing the direction it takes and where scientific focus should be, which can make an enormous difference.”

The name Yosemite for the venture capital firm refers to the region in California that Steve Jobs, a native of California, loved and often visited for vacations with Laurene Powell Jobs. This was likely a factor in choosing the company’s name.

Yosemite is launching its business with $200 million (about 260 billion KRW) in initial funding from several investors and institutions, including John Doerr, a famous venture capitalist and close friend of Steve Jobs, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Rockefeller University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Yosemite has already supported hundreds of researchers and invested in dozens of therapeutic and diagnostic companies worldwide, including in the U.S., Europe, and Israel, through its predecessor, the Emerson health division.

While Yosemite emphasizes profit generation as a venture capital firm, it also accepts donations and manages them. Reed Jobs told the NYT that this creates a virtuous cycle where scientists who receive unconditional donations to develop technologies can later receive funding from Yosemite when those technologies are commercialized.