Reed Jobs seeks UK cancer investments via Yosemite fund, LifeArc

Reed Jobs, founder of the oncology-focused venture firm Yosemite, said he is looking for investment opportunities in the United Kingdom and praised the quality of UK research while attending a LifeArc Translational Science Summit in London. His comments underline Yosemite’s international investment intent and its aim to back technologies that could make cancer non‑lethal.

Yosemite was spun out of Emerson Collective in 2023 and operates with both a for‑profit venture arm and a donor‑advised grant vehicle that supports early academic work. LifeArc’s event programme confirms Jobs spoke at the summit on 12 May, where Yosemite met academics, pharma partners and investors to scout collaboration and deal flow.

Market observers note Yosemite completed a significant fundraising step earlier this year, with reports of a $200 million first close for its second fund, signalling renewed investor interest in oncology-focused venture capital. That fundraising momentum, together with institutional backers reported in public briefings, may increase capital available to UK clinical and translational projects, particularly in areas such as immunotherapy, early detection and gene therapies.

Yosemite’s dual model—deploying grants to seed academic projects while allocating venture capital to spinouts—has been highlighted in the firm’s public releases and partner statements. PR announcements indicate the firm has distributed millions in grants through its philanthropic channel, a strategy intended to strengthen the pipeline of investable science and reduce translational risk for later‑stage investments.

Analysts and sector participants say Reed Jobs’s UK engagement could accelerate partnerships between British research institutions and US investors, boosting deal activity in the medium term. If Yosemite proceeds with direct UK investments, the immediate effects would likely be seen in valuation uplift for promising biotech spinouts and increased competition for early clinical assets; longer term, sustained capital inflows could support faster commercialisation of UK life‑science discoveries.