Yosemite Announces More Than $18 Million Deployed in Grants

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Yosemite, a venture capital firm dedicated to making cancer non-lethal through a combination of academic philanthropy and for-profit investing, has deployed more than $18 million in grants through a donor-advised charitable vehicle since the firm’s launch in 2023.

This philanthropic support operates alongside Yosemite’s venture investing and is directed toward early-stage research that precedes traditional investment, helping advance new scientific ideas and approaches to cancer care at a time when academic researchers face an increasingly competitive funding landscape.

“Academic seed funding is essential to the evolution of cancer care,” said Reed Jobs, Founder and Managing Partner of Yosemite. “Our donor-advised fund strategy enables us and our community to support ambitious, foundational work at its earliest stages and help move promising science toward translation.”

One example included preclinical research led by Craig Crews at Yale, which contributed to foundational insights behind the formation of Quarry Thera, a biotechnology company developing small molecule drugs that modulate protein interactions in completely novel ways to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases.

Collaboration with the American Cancer Society

A cornerstone of Yosemite’s grantmaking activity is its ongoing partnership with the American Cancer Society, one of the largest and most established cancer research funders in the United States. Through this collaboration, the organizations annually identify emerging and high-impact research areas based on mutual scientific interest.

“We are excited to partner with Yosemite for the second year, expanding our ability to fund innovative projects that can have real and practical implications for cancer patients,” said Bill Dahut, M.D., Chief Scientific Officer at the American Cancer Society.

Past focus areas have included artificial intelligence in cancer research, the tumor microenvironment, cancer vaccines, and cancer-targeted toxin delivery. Awardees in the 2025 American Cancer Society-Yosemite grant cycle include a mix of emerging investigators and established luminaries, including Carolyn Bertozzi, Jennifer Doudna, William Kaelin, Kai Wucherpfennig, and Stephen Elledge.

The partnership has already demonstrated early scientific impact. One supported project led by Jeremiah Johnson’s group at MIT, recently published in Nature Biotechnology, developed a next-generation antibody-based drug delivery approach that allows each antibody to carry more drug molecules than conventional antibody-drug conjugates, demonstrating stronger anti-tumor activity in preclinical models of breast and ovarian cancer.

“This support allowed us to pursue a high-risk, high-reward direction that would have been difficult to fund otherwise,” Johnson said. “The ACS-Yosemite partnership created the flexibility and momentum needed to move the work quickly from concept to publication.”

Directed Healthcare Grants

In addition to supporting foundational scientific discovery through its collaboration with the American Cancer Society, Yosemite, through a donor-advised fund platform, also supports healthcare initiatives focused on improving cancer-care delivery at leading institutions, including Mayo Clinic and City of Hope. 

These initiatives address practical challenges in oncology care and span innovation across the cancer care continuum. Areas of focus include:

• Improving diagnostic accuracy and efficiency through AI-enabled tools
• Using new digital and physiological signals to monitor patient health and predict disease risk
• Informing care and treatment decisions through integrated data and clinical intelligence

At Mayo Clinic, the funding is being applied across clinical programs and research settings.

“This philanthropic investment will advance Mayo Clinic’s work to transform cancer research and care, from early detection through survivorship,” said Cheryl Willman, M.D., Stephen and Barbara Slaggie Executive Director of Mayo Clinic Cancer Programs and Director of the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center. “We appreciate the support that makes this important work possible.”

At City of Hope, the support is helping accelerate the translation of research into routine clinical practice.

“A partnership–driven approach aligns with City of Hope’s mission to translate discovery into impact at a national scale. By supporting ambitious and innovative teams in AI, diagnostics, and care delivery, we can accelerate the integration of breakthrough research into everyday clinical practice to the benefit of patients who need lifesaving care today,” said John Carpten, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at City of Hope, and Director of the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Looking Ahead

Through its hybrid grant-making and investment strategy, Yosemite will remain an active vehicle for supporting early-stage cancer research and healthcare initiatives. As academic funding becomes increasingly competitive, philanthropic support is expected to remain an important source of funding for foundational research that informs future translational and clinical efforts. To learn more, contact [email protected].

About Yosemite
Yosemite partners with leading researchers and visionary entrepreneurs working to make cancer non-lethal within our lifetime. Through a donor-advised fund and investment platform, Yosemite supports innovation across the oncology ecosystem — from early academic research to later-stage companies — advancing new therapies and technologies that improve patient outcomes. Leveraging its deep scientific network, Yosemite builds and finances companies translating breakthrough discoveries into better therapies and patient experiences to improve the health and lives of cancer patients. For more information, please visit: yosemite.co

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SOURCE Yosemite